HIST 1101: The Shaping of the Modern World: Unit 4

Sept. 21

European exploration, Columbus, and European crossings of the Atlantic

In this class we will consider the cultural, political, economic, biological, and demographic implications of European trade and contacts with Africa and the Americas. We will consider what drove Iberians, particularly, to engage in long-distance maritime trade and the impact of that trade on the history of the modern world.

Assignment: read in OER textbook chapter 5.2–5.3; pp. 164–187; online Da Gama, Round Africa to India (1497-1498); and (on blackboard) Shillington, History of Africa, pp. 131-137.

Additional optional reading: Article on salmonella and the Aztecs.

In this class we will evaluate the legacies of European maritime explorers. What did they set out to do and what did they (inadvertently) achieve? Reflect on why the legacy of the Columbian exchange continues to robustly impact the world today. .

Sept 26

African Slave Trade; Mercantile colonialism; slavery in the Spanish colonies

This class will consider the European rationale for introducing slavery in the context of the distinctive economies of Iberian South America and the Caribbean. We will consider silver mining and labor and the spread of the plantation complex in Brazil and the Caribbean. Trans-Saharan slave trade; trans-Atlantic slave trade

Assignment: read on blackboard Shillington, History of Africa, pp. 170-174; read in your OER textbook, chapter 3.4 (pp. 98–106); chapter 5.4 (pp. 187–198); chapter 6.1 (205–217).

When preparing for class, consider the interconnectedness of the economy and slavery. Why did Iberians choose slavery as a means of labor in the Carribbean and South America? When and where was slave labor previously used? How did these choices indelibly shape the cultures of those places?

Sept 28

Primary source paper topic #1 due

The African Slave Trade and African Slavery in the Atlantic World.

In this class we will consider the expansion of the slave trade to North America, the role of triangular trade and the African dimensions of the slave trade.

Assignment: read Shillington, History of Africa, pp. 174-180; re-read in OER textbook chapter 5.4, 186–198; and review online links for Equiano, Interesting Narrative, Chapter II, esp. pp. 71-81; map of Equiano’s travels

Strongly recommended: “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic (2014)

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Questions to consider: How does slavery develop differently in North than in South America? Does slavery still matter in the United States today? Do you think that reparations would be a useful way to address legacies of slavery in North America or elsewhere?

Oct 3

MIDTERM: Administered on Blackboard (not in class)