Asia and the Pacific

The Asia and Pacific concentration—which encompasses East, South, and Central Asia along with the Pacific and the Indian Ocean—offers students the opportunity to explore gender, class, race, and ethnicity through the examination of premodern and modern empires and nations, their borders and peripheries, and their flows of people, materials, and ideas. Major topics of focus include the early modern and modern eras, Western and Japanese imperialisms, labor and other major social movements, socialist transformations, and cultural, intellectual, and science history.

Major Requirements

The history major requires a minimum of 12 unique courses. At least eight of the 12 courses must be upper-division (HIS 100-199). A maximum of four courses, including the introductory survey course, may be lower-division (HIS 1-99).

Region of Concentration: Asia and the Pacific (6 courses)

I. One lower-division introductory survey course:

• HIS 40A, Early Modern East Asia
• HIS 40B, The Making of Modern East Asia
• HIS 44, Modern South Asia, 1500 to Present

HIS 40A and 40B satisfy the Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) general education requirement. HIS 44 satisfies the Ethnicity and Race (ER) general education requirement.

II. Four additional Asia and the Pacific courses, three of which must be upper-division

III. One Asia and the Pacific Comprehensive Requirement

Historical Skills and Methods (1 course)

IV. HIS 100, Historical Skills and Methods

HIS 100 introduce history majors to historical methods and provides preparation for advanced historical research. Students develop critical reading, historical analysis, research, and disciplinary writing skills. HIS 100 also satisfies the Textual Analysis and Interpretation (TA) general education requirement.

Students who enter UCSC as frosh are expected to complete HIS 100 by the end of their second year. Transfer students are expected to complete HIS 100 no later than their second term at UCSC.

Breadth Requirements (4 courses)

V. Two courses from each of the remaining two regions of concentration:

• Americas and Africa
• Europe and the Mediterranean World

Upper-Division Elective (1 course)

One additional upper-division history course of your choice from any of the three regions of concentration

Distribution Requirements

Of the 12 courses required for the major, at least three must meet chronological distribution requirements. One must be set before 600 C.E., and two must be set in periods prior to the year 1800 C.E.

Intensive Major Option

The intensive history major offers students a pathway to enrich their study of history, refine their skills in writing and research, and receive a designation on their transcripts that signals their ambition and accomplishment to potential employers and graduate schools. All history majors are eligible to declare the intensive track, including junior transfers. If a student attempts but does not complete the intensive track they may still graduate with a standard history degree, provided the appropriate major coursework has been completed.