Hello,

Some of my family are interested in delving deeper into World History to fill in a lot of basic gaps in their knowledge. Given my undergraduate degree in History and 20 consecutive years of personal pursuit, I offered to put a syllabus together.

But I'm not an expert on everything.

Where I need help: getting good, clear, freely and legally accessible sources for people with access to the internet and public libraries, but no academic resources.

More specifically, I am well versed in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Europe, European Empires, United States' and Mexican history.

Areas I need especial help finding good sources: (sub-Saharan) African history up until 1700; Mesoamerican societies; pre-colonial Indian subcontinent (especially between Alexander the Great and Portuguese contact); Shang- Ming dynasty China; what is modern Indonesia, and Polynesian history.

My audience: my goal is to make this as relatable as a college World History survey course, so not challenging but broad and with enough depth to encourage independent exploration afterwards.

I'm open to all kinds of sources, so long as they are verifiable. Podcasts, Youtube videos, articles, books they can get from a public library, or legally and freely accessible journal articles. I am introducing some primary texts, but not many (for example I am using Fordham University's Ancient History Sourcebook).

I would also love ideas about smaller, focused enrichment subjects. For example I'm planning to create an "Early Philosophies" section that will fall slightly out of my chronological order, but cover things like Platonism, Roman Stoicism, Confucianism, etc. If you have ideas of similar thematically related topics, I'd be obliged!

Thank you for your help!