Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

Contents.
1. Introduction. A global vision of the feel of the Mediterranean.
2. Environmental conditions. Climate, Geology, Water resources, Vegetation and earth. The desertification of the Mediterranean.
3. The expansion of Homo sapiens and the decline of the Neanderthal.
4. Agriculture and stock-breeding in the Mediterranean. Western colonization.
5. The commercial Mediterranean world in the past.
6. The Roman Empire.
7. The Middle Ages and the expansion of Islam.
8. The Modern Age.
9. The Contemporary Age.
10. The Mediterranean today, a divided world.

This course will be complemented by guided excursions, conferences, museums and cultural celebrations in order to enrich the students’ knowledge of the complete development of Mediterranean society, both present and historically. Some of the programmed activities are:

1. The pre-Roman Mediterranean. Visit the Museum of the cultural Iberia of Moixent. Work in the archeological site of Bastida de Moixent.
2. The Roman Mediterranean. Sagunto and Valencia.
3. The Middle Ages. Xàtiva, castle and archeological sites nearby.
4. The Mediterranean today. The coast vs. the interior. A two day guided tour between the Valencian coast and the interior mountains.
5. Visit to the pre-historic museum.

Evaluation.
The practical design of this course is to assess the continual contents of the syllabus. There will be an oral exam covering all course content and selected lectures (by students and professor). The student will not only show they understand the Mediterranean society and history but will be able to transmit the information in front of the class. More than three unexcused absences will not be justified.

Bibliography.
Braudel, F. 1980. El Mediterráneo y el Mundo Mediterráneo en tiempos de Felipe II. Mexico. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1090 pp.
Braudel, F. 1985. La Méditeranée. L’espace et l’histoire. Éditions Flammarion, Paris, 200 pp.
Braudel, F. 1998. Memorias del Mediterráneo. Prehistoria y Antigüedad. Cátedra, Madrid, 290 pp.
Duby, G. 1997. Los ideales del Mediterráneo. Historia, Filosofía y literatura en la Cultura Europea. Ecaria Antrazyt, Barcelona, 510 pp.
Maya, J. L. 1999. Celtas e Íberos en la Península Ibérica. CIDOB Ediciones. Icaria Editorial, Enciclopedia del Mediterráneo, Barcelona, 143 pp.
Naïr, S. 1996. Mediterráneo hoy. Entre el diálogo y el rechazo. Ecaria Antrazyt, Barcelona, 490 pp.
Ruiz Doménech, J.E. 2004. El Mediterráneo. Historia y Cultura. Ed. Península, Barcelona, 255 pp.