History Minor Concentration (B.A.) (18 credits)
Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)
Degree: Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Arts and Science
Program credit weight: 18
Program Description
The Minor Concentration History introduces students to the study of diverse cultures and societies around the world from antiquity to contemporary times. It is an excellent complement to the major concentrations offered in the Faculty of Arts. The Minor Concentration History is expandable to a Major Concentration History.
Students wishing to complete a history program are encouraged to consult a Program Adviser at the beginning of their first year, and to fill out a departmental program advising/audit form. For more information about the undergraduate programs in history, and for advising information and forms, visit the program’s website at http://www.mcgill.ca/history/undergraduate.
Important note: Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate credits may not be included in the overall credit requirement for history programs.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Complementary Courses (18 credits)
18 credits of history courses (HIST or Cognate courses - see list below), of which no more than 6 credits may be at the 200-level.
Cognate Courses
The following non-HIST courses may be counted toward the History minor program (max. 3 credits). Additional courses may be submitted for consideration to the Undergraduate Program Director. Faculty regulations stipulate that a course may not be counted toward more than one program.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CLAS 303 | Ancient Greek Religion. | 3 |
Ancient Greek Religion. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Focus on the history of Greek religion in the Classical Period. Particular attention will be paid to the Greek concept of divinity, local pantheons, civic festival calendars, the topography of myth and ritual, ideas concerning the afterlife, mystery cults, oracles and games and the literary representations of religion. | ||
| CLAS 304 | Ancient Greek Democracy. | 3 |
Ancient Greek Democracy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examines the conceptual history of popular government in the context of Greek political culture, from the 6th century BCE to the Roman conquest of Greece. | ||
| CLAS 305 | Roman Religion. | 3 |
Roman Religion. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Approaches to and problems of Roman religion. The formation of religious topography, problems of religion and empire, the religious interaction between Rome and other Mediterranean peoples, the complex discourse between religion and philosophy, the reformulation of Roman religion during the imperial period, and the rise of Christianity within a pagan Roman world. | ||
| CLAS 345 | Study Tour: Greece. | 3 |
Study Tour: Greece. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A study of Greek history and culture through the sites and monuments of ancient Greece. Includes preparatory meetings, site and museum visits, and specialized lectures on site. A fee is charged of $2400 to cover certain travel expenses within Greece, accommodation including breakfast and entrance fees to all sites visited throughout the tour. | ||
| CLAS 406 | Greek and Roman Historiography. | 3 |
Greek and Roman Historiography. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Seminar on the works of the Greek and Roman historians (in translation) who founded a new literary genre for the exploration of past and present events; interpretation of their approaches towards history and theories for their study. | ||
| ISLA 305 | Topics in Islamic History. | 3 |
Topics in Islamic History. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Subject matter will vary year to year, according to the instructor. Topic will be made available in Minerva. | ||
| ISLA 315 | Ottoman State and Society to 1839. | 3 |
Ottoman State and Society to 1839. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The emergence and development of the Ottoman Empire from its beginnings around 1300 until the Tanzimat Edict of Reform in 1839. A trajectory of Ottoman history from a small principality to a centralized empire, then to a decentralized governmental structure. In addition to chronological developments, questions of imperialideology and the management of ethnically and religiously diverse communities across a vast territory. Exploration of the place of the Ottomans in the early modern world, and their ideological and diplomatic rivalry with other major empires. | ||
| ISLA 350 | From Tribe to Dynasty. | 3 |
From Tribe to Dynasty. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The political and intellectual developments shaping Arab and Persian societies from the rise of Islam in the 7th century until the early mid 8th century, including the major social changes, political revolts, religious schisms, and the consolidation of lasting cultural institutions. | ||
| ISLA 355 | Modern History of the Middle East. | 3 |
Modern History of the Middle East. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Assessment of the historical transformation of the modern Middle East concentrating on its internal socio-economic changes, as well as the colonial experience and encounters with the West since the early 19th century. Examination of the historical conditions that led to the rise of nationalism, the nation-state, the Arab-Israeli conflict. | ||
| ISLA 365 | Middle East Since the 1970's. | 3 |
Middle East Since the 1970's. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Changes that have occurred in the Middle East since the 1970's, viewed through the lens of themes such as migration, consumerism, war, communications, and ideology. | ||
| ISLA 410 | History: Middle-East 1798-1918. | 3 |
History: Middle-East 1798-1918. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A study of the Middle East from Napoleon's invasion of Egypt to the end of WWI. Emphasis will be on the emergence of nationalisms in the context of European imperialism; political, social, and economic transformation; religion and ideology; and changing patterns of alliances. | ||
| ISLA 411 | History: Middle-East 1918-1945. | 3 |
History: Middle-East 1918-1945. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The impact of WWI on Middle Eastern society and politics; the British and French mandates; the growth of nationalisms, revolutions and the formation of national states; WW II and the clash of political interests within the region. | ||
| ISLA 511 | Medieval Islam, 10th-12th Century. | 3 |
Medieval Islam, 10th-12th Century. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Socio-political, religious and intellectual developments in Muslim societies following the weakening of the Arab-Sunni Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad during the tenth century. Emphasis will be placed on the historical formation and features of the Seljuq and Buyid dynasties as well as the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt. | ||
| ISLA 515 | The Medieval School in Islam. | 3 |
The Medieval School in Islam. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Schooling in medieval Islamic society particularly in Iraq, Greater Syria, Persia, and Egypt. Sheds light on the structure of learning, aims of education, the life of students including women, and their relationship to their teachers. Illuminates forms of academic evaluation, and looks closely at the "scholarly license" as an accrediting tool delineating its function and scope. Through a set of representative studies on the medieval school, it brings attention to the heated debates surrounding the academic rigor of this form of learning, and the place of scientific learning in it, as well as the historical connection between it and the early European college. | ||
| ISLA 516 | Medieval Islam, 13th-15th Century. | 3 |
Medieval Islam, 13th-15th Century. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The historical circumstances surrounding the Crusades against Muslims in Greater Syria and Egypt. The socio-economic, political, and cultural transformation of Muslim society following the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, and the rise of the Ikl-Khanid Mongols in Iran and Iraq, as well as the Mamluks in Syria and Egypt. Emphasis will be placed on the integration of new Persian, Turkish, and Indian populations into Islamic imperial culture. | ||
| JWST 240 | The Holocaust. | 3 |
The Holocaust. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry. | ||
| JWST 245 | Jewish Life in the Islamic World. | 3 |
Jewish Life in the Islamic World. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Until the early modern period, most of the world’s Jews spoke Arabic and called the Islamic world home. This course explores the Jewish experience among Muslims from the seventh century until the present. Through close readings of primary sources and historical scholarship, students will learn how Jews under Islam shaped modern Judaism, how engagement with Arabic in Islamic Spain led to the revival of Hebrew, and how the Jewish-Muslim relationship fared in the twentieth century. The course also probes themes of history and memory in light of the departure of Jews from the Islamic world in the 1950s and 1960s. | ||
| JWST 303 | The Soviet Jewish Experience. | 3 |
The Soviet Jewish Experience. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Sovietization both fueled the modernization of Russian Jewry and contributed to its eventual suppression. This experience will be examined from two perspectives: history and literature. The interrelationship between culture and politics and the effects of ideology and censorship on literature will be discussed. | ||
| JWST 312 | Modern Jewish History. | 3 |
Modern Jewish History. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Exploration of major transformations to Jewish society and identity in the modern period. Topics include nationalism, emancipation, acculturation, modernity, relations with non-Jews, popular culture, and literature. | ||
| JWST 334 | Jews and Muslims: A Modern History. | 3 |
Jews and Muslims: A Modern History. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course examines the modern history of Jewish-Muslim relations beyond just conflict. We will look at the experience of Jews and Muslims -- as individuals and communities -- who charted new cultural territory while navigating colonialism, nationalism, war, and decolonization, through close readings of a wide variety of primary sources (including letters, memoirs, fiction, music, film, and photography) and historical scholarship. | ||
| JWST 348 | Modern Jewish Studies. | 3 |
Modern Jewish Studies. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics in Jewish Studies. Semesters will be devoted to specific issues and periods of the Jewish Experience since 1500 and the literature produced by Jews during this period. | ||
| JWST 365 | Modern Jewish Ideologies. | 3 |
Modern Jewish Ideologies. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The rise and development of the various ideologies which attempt to define the Jews in historical, national and socio-cultural terms will be analyzed within the context of modern European nationalism. Selected texts of the Jewish Enlightenment, Science of Judaism, Peretz Smolenskin, Leon Pinsker, Simon Dubnow, Chaim Zhitlowsky and Ahad Ha-Am. | ||
| JWST 366 | History of Zionism. | 3 |
History of Zionism. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the development of the Zionist idea, the most influential expression of modern Jewish nationalism, which led to the creation of the Jewish state. The transformation of elements of traditional Jewish messianism into a modern political ideology. Hibbat Zion, Political Zionism, Cultural and Synthetic Zionism will be discussed. | ||
| JWST 371 | Jews and the City. | 3 |
Jews and the City. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Examination of Jewish life in metropolitan centres in Europe and beyond. | ||
| RELG 326 | Christians in the Roman World. | 3 |
Christians in the Roman World. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A social-historical examination of Christians within the complex cultural, political, ethnic and religious contexts of later Greco-Roman antiquity, focusing on changing relations among different varieties of Christian, as well as on interactions and conflicts among Christians, Jews and polytheists. Other topics to be considered include martyrdom, orthodoxy and heresy, and Gnosticism. | ||
Notes: 200-level cognate courses count toward the 6-credit limit of 200-level courses allowed for the program.