BA (Joint-Honours)

First Year BA (Joint-Honours)

Visit NUI Galway's Courses Page for information on how to apply, entry requirements and assessment.

Welcome to First Year History

Structure of First Year History‌

• First Year Timetable Ay24-25
• HISK1102 & HI1100 Sem 2 Ay24-5 
• First Year Handbook Ay24-5
• Cover Sheet For Essays (Word)
• Head of First Year
• Queries about learning answered here (English and Irish version)

Welcome to all our incoming History students! We are delighted you have chosen to study History and will do our utmost to ensure your on campus and online teaching environment is engaging, supportive and most importantly, interesting. In first year, students taking History will examine social, political and cultural developments in Ireland and Europe from the early Middle Ages up to World War One. Students will take four modules in total, two in each semester. As well as learning about what happened in the past, students are introduced to the techniques used by professional historians - the evaluation of contemporary sources, the balancing of different interpretations of the past, and the construction of one's own view of historical developments. Students will receive close attention in tutorial groups of 15 students, which meet weekly to discuss the lecture topics.

The First Year Handbook explains all you need to know – whether you are a 1BA1 student, a BA History Pathways student or a BA Connect student. I would encourage you to look through the handbook and to join me for our induction session where I can answer any further questions. 

Dr Laurence Marley, Head of First Year History

In First Year History students do four core modules:

Semester 1: HI1103 Europe & Ireland 1789-1918 (5 ECTS)

Section A: Ireland, 1789-1918
Dr Laurence Marley, laurence.marley@universityofgalway.ie
This section of the module provides a survey of social, cultural and political developments in Ireland in 'the long nineteenth century', addressing the main themes of faith, land, and the political governance of Ireland. Against the backdrop of the British policy of assimilating the rebellious Irish under the Union of 1801, it examines the popular movements for social and political change, the Great Famine and its legacy, and the dominant ideologies of nationalism and unionism. It concludes with a focus on the general election of 1918, the outcome of which proved crucial in breaking a Union that had been intended to bind Britain and Ireland together as one kingdom, ‘forever’.

Section B: Europe, 1789-1918
Dr Róisín Healy, roisin.healy@universityofgalway.ie  
Europe’s ‘long nineteenth century’ has left the world a very mixed legacy. On the one hand, the political struggles of this period bore fruit in the extension of the vote, the abolition of serfdom, and national independence for many peoples. On the other, this century witnessed the colonial subjugation of much of the world by European powers, a massive increase in the burning of fossil fuels, and prolonged and devastating wars. Spanning the years from the French Revolution of 1789 to World War I (1914-18), this section of the module explores these developments from the perspectives of those who lived through them, with all their hopes, anxieties and imperfections.  

Semester 2: HI1106 Early Cultural Encounters in Ireland and the Americas (5 ECTS)

Section A: Medieval
Dr Chris Doyle, cdoyle@universityofgalway.ie
After the Western Roman Empire’s disintegration during the fifth century, Ireland emerged as a beacon for Christian civilisation, culture and learning in Europe and beyond. This is truly remarkable, given that Ireland had long been considered by outside observers to be a barbarian, pagan place with strange customs and dangerous inhabitants. Over time, Ireland gained a lasting reputation as the land of ‘saints and scholars’. This introductory course explores changes and developments in Irish society, culture, and religion from the pre-Christian to the Viking Age. The course also examines the Irish contribution to European culture in the same period.

Section B: The Conquest of the Americas
Prof Enrico Dal Lago, enrico.dallago@universityofgalway.ie
This course will introduce students to the history of the Americas before and after their ‘discovery’ and conquest by the Europeans. After a brief overview of late fifteenth-century Spain and Columbus’s voyages, the course will focus on the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas in Peru and their conquest by Hernan Cortez and Francisco Pizarro in 1519-35. The course will, then, look at Spanish colonial society in Latin America, and finally at the European colonization of North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Head of First Year History

Dr. Laurence Marley, Email: laurence.marley@universityofgalway.ie Room 409, Tower 1, Floor 2. 

Second Year BA (Joint Honours)

Welcome to Second Year History‌ ‌

• 2nd Year History Handbook 2024-5 (updated)
• Head of Second Year
• Second Year Course Descriptions Ay24-25
• Timetables:    2nd Yr Sem 1   Year 2 Sem 2
• Cover Sheet For Essays (Word)
• Queries about learning answered here (English and Irish version)

Welcome back!

Dear second-year students,

We are delighted that you have chosen history as one of your degree subjects, and we look forward to working with you and following our collective path of discovery.

You have two kinds of modules this year, lecture modules and colloquium modules, as outlined in the second-year handbook. Each lecture module is worth 5 credits and each colloquium module is worth 10 credits. You will all choose one colloquium and either three or four lecture modules, depending on what programme you are enrolled in. Further details are in the second-year handbook and in the timetable (both linked above).

All lecturers will have some hours set by every week for consultation with students in their offices. You will need to make an appointment with the lecturer to meet them during these office hours.

You will find more information in the Course Descriptors and the Handbook above.

Tomás Finn
Head of Second Year History
tomas.finn@universityofgalway.ie 

Final Year BA (Joint Honours)

Welcome to Final Year History

A Chairde: Fáilte romhaibh ar ais!