In spite of their crucial role in human history, animals have not traditionally been portrayed as central historical actors. This talk will discuss the importance of animals in the history of human society and culture through the evolution of human and animal relationships, the role of animals in agriculture and society, animals in war, conquest, and empire, and the interconnected histories of human, animal and environmental health. It will look at the historical construction of the categories of ‘human’ and ‘animal’, and its implications for medicine, science, and animal rights. Some of the themes examined include a history of domestication, animals as vectors of illness and plague in the Middle Ages, the Scientific Revolution and animal experimentation, animals in the discovery of America, the emergence of animal rights in the 19th century, and animals, extinction and climate change in the 20th and 21st centuries.