Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A comparative exploration of the colonization of North and South America by the various European empires together with the role of Native and African peoples in the Americas, from the late fifteenth century to the onset of political independence three hundred years later. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course will compare regions in North and South America from approximately 1450 to 1830, i.e. from the eve of contact to the Age of Revolutions. It will study how Indigenous, African, and European histories converged and diverged. Lectures will focus on the development and dissolution of the Spanish, Portuguese, French and British empires in the territories that later became Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Canada, and other Latin American and Caribbean countries. Readings will focus on Indigenous history, Latin American history, and the history of the American Revolution. Our key question will include, “What was the view looking East from Indian Country?”, “How did the natural environment shape the colonies of the Americas?” “Were American colonies fragments of European societies?”, “What was the ‘view from below’?”, “When did the Americas become Capitalist?”, “What were the origins of Independence movements in the Americas?”, and “Do the Americas have one history or many histories?”

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: