Overview
Unit VII Discussion
Welcome to the final week of the semester!
This last discussion has two parts, both of which are designed to get you to be thinking about the course as a whole - which might just come in handy on the comprehensive final exam 
First of all, remember the earlier discussion about the historical debate over the "Fall of Rome"? Now that you have learned about the next 1000-odd years after Gibbon dated the "Fall of Rome", please reassess (a) whether you believe that Rome "fell" and - if it did, what do you now believe is the proper date/event that actually marks the "Fall" of Rome - when "Rome" became something "different" and, if it didn't, where is it/how did it continue? This assessment should be based on criteria that you establish and support within your discussion and should address your analysis from the earlier discussion - has you opinion changed? If so, why? If not, why not?
Then, for the second part of the discussion, please assess the impacts of the global exploration of Western Europeans in the late 15th-mid-17th centuries (remember, the class "ends" in 1660) and its ongoing impacts on western civilization both then and today - and whether it has been a mainly positive or mainly negative thing and why - note, this is asking for an evaluation, just like the final exam question will...