This course covers a brief introduction to the history of what is known as the “Middle East”, a contested and a highly diverse region spanning from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. We will cover key developments in the region, from early Islam to the present day, including the rise and fall of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and the Gunpowder empires as well as the rise of the modern nation-state. This course will cover various historical topics and trends such as the expansion of the caliphates, the transformations of empires, mandate systems and colonialism, nationalist and Pan-Arab movements, war on terror, the 2011 Arab Spring, and civil society. Broader themes and topics we will cover include Orientalism, settler-colonialism, colonialism, nationalism, gender politics, revolution, and border-making. Throughout the course, we will examine numerous primary sources (texts and images) to provide us with a fuller understanding of the relevant time period. In addition to primary sources, course materials include academic secondary sources (book chapters and articles) as well as a select number of multimedia sources.