Welcome to the Western Civilization Research Guide

This guide is designed to support Norwalk Campus students studying and researching Western History up to the year 1500. It brings together key resources—including scholarly articles, books, primary sources, and reliable websites—to help you navigate your research projects with confidence.

Western History to the 1500s examines the major political, cultural, and religious developments in Europe and the Mediterranean world, from ancient civilizations through the end of the Middle Ages.

If you have any questions or need help with your research, please don’t hesitate to contact the Norwalk Campus librarians—we’re here to support your success!

Course Supported: HIST 1001
This course explores major themes in the development of the Western world from its earliest historical roots through the Renaissance. Topics include the Ancient Middle East, Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, and the Renaissance.

🏛️ 1. Ancient Civilizations (c. 3000 BCE – 500 BCE)

Mesopotamia & Egypt

• Development of writing systems (cuneiform, hieroglyphs)

• City-states, law codes (e.g., Hammurabi’s Code)

• Polytheism, early science, and monumental architecture

Ancient Greece

• Democracy in Athens

• Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

• Art and architecture: Parthenon, idealism

• Wars: Persian Wars, Peloponnesian War

🏛️ 2. Roman Civilization (c. 500 BCE – 476 CE)

Roman Republic (509–27 BCE)

• Mixed constitution: consuls, Senate, assemblies

• Expansion through military conquest

• Conflicts with Carthage: Punic Wars

Roman Empire (27 BCE – 476 CE)

• Augustus: first emperor

• Pax Romana: peace and prosperity

• Spread of Roman law, roads, and Latin

• Rise of Christianity: Jesus, Paul, early church

• Fall of Western Rome (476 CE)

🛡️ 3. Early Middle Ages (c. 500–1000 CE)

• Fall of Western Rome → political fragmentation

• Rise of Germanic kingdoms (e.g., Franks, Visigoths)

• Charlemagne crowned emperor (800 CE)

• Feudalism and manorial economy

• Spread of Christianity and monasteries as centers of learning

🏰 4. High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1300 CE)

• Agricultural expansion, population growth

• Growth of towns and trade

• Universities and Scholasticism (e.g., Thomas Aquinas)

• The Crusades: religious wars between Christians and Muslims

• Rise of powerful monarchies in England and France

🕍 5. Late Middle Ages (c. 1300–1500 CE)

• Black Death (1347–1351): killed ~1/3 of Europe

• Hundred Years’ War between England and France

• Decline of feudalism, rise of early nation-states

• Church crises: Avignon Papacy, Great Schism

• Printing press (c. 1440, Gutenberg)

🌱 6. The Renaissance (late 1300s–1500)

• Rebirth of classical learning in Italy

• Humanism: focus on individual potential and secular learning

• Great artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael

• Writers: Dante, Petrarch, Erasmus

• Set the stage for the Reformation and the Age of Exploration