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The Columbian Exchange: Europe and the Americas in the
Early Modern Period :HST 1607
Professor Blaisdell
Northeastern University
charmblais@worldnet.att.net
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course focuses on the encounter
of Europe and Europeans with the Americas and its peoples in the fifteenth,
sixteenth: and seventeenth centuries and of the natives of the new-found land
wIth Europeans. We will not focus on the "discovery"or the explorers
or on one area explicitly but on Early Modern Europe's role in shaping theIAmericas
and the repercussions of discovery and colonization which modified the lives
and thought of Europeans over time. The course begins in Renaissance Europe
in order to understand the background and perspectives from whence the Europeans
came, the impact their "discoveries," explorations, and colonizations
had on Europe and the impact that their concepts of race and gender, and "the
other" had on the radical reshaping of the culture and economy of what
was to them "the new world". We will be especially concerned with
the historical methodologies of cultural history as it pertains to the way
in which one culture perceives and shapes "the other" through verbal
and pictorial images.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this course is to explore and understand
the Europe of the age of the great voyages; the impact of Europe on the new
world and the new world on Europe; to study a fairly recent body of knowledge
and scholarly literature that uses new methodologies of cultural history;
to sharpen your powers of focused inquiry; to study themes that are representative
of the new global historiography. The readings which are broad and suggestive
are designed to lead to further inquiry.
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:
Attendance and thoughtful participation in class discussions
Two short critical essays on assigned topics
Museum critique
Project
Take home final essays
Your deciding to remain in this course after reading the syllabus constitutes
a contract between us to work together to our highest level. You are obligated
to come to class every day and hand in your work on time. Students who miss
more than five classes without a legitimate excuse may be required to withdraw
from the course. Papers constitute a major part of your work and the basis
of my evaluations of your progress in this course. We will work together and
critique each other's written work. Submitting papers after they are due is
not acceptable and will be reflected in my evaluation of your work.
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:
You will be evaluated on the basis of thoughtful participation in class discussion
and on the quality of your written work and mid-term quiz. Historical research
begins with a question. Although this is not a research course thoughtful
participation includes becoming an inquirer - a question asker- as well as
an answerer of questions. It involves hearing other points of view and responding
thoughtfully, critically, and agreeably. The essays you write for this course
will give you an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned. You will
be asked to analyze images and texts and contextualize them in the events
of the period. You will receive two grades on your essays: one for content
and interpretation and one for grammar, spelling, and syntax. The two will
be averaged together. You may re-write your papers in which case the grades
are averaged together.
In addition to the two critical essays, you will do a museum project. The
project involves visiting two out of three of the following local museums:
1) the Museum of Fine Arts, 2) the Peabody/Essex Museum in Salem 3) the Peabody
Museum at Harvard University. You will analyze, critique and compare the exhibits
that relate to our study of Europe and America from 1492-1700 bringing out
both the strong and weak points of the exhibits. You will receive specific
instructions in a handout.
NOTE: After the first critical essay is written and returned, students have
the option of substituting a major project for the second and third papers.
They may choose from among the following options after consulting with me:
Public History Project:
Create a virtual museum exhibit on one aspect of the course (Navigation technology,
artifacts, images that build a theme). Clearly define your theme and your
audience. You will be limited by the virtual museum director to space for
20 artifacts. You may draw upon pictures of objects in actual museums or copies
from books. Write you own notations in which you demonstrate your ability
to convey to your public the information you consider important in the context
of the course and the theme of your exhibit. Finally write a short theoretical
rationale for your approach to creating this exhibit.
Teacher Project:
Choose a theme related to this course that could be used in a Middle or Secondary
school curriculum. Prepare a plan for a module of three to six weeks with
reading, visuals, and other materials including material from the Museum of
Fine Arts and the Peabody Museum. In addition to the curriculum itself, make
a critical statement of a page or two that specifically connects how the framework
of our course fits with your curriculum module. Clearly define the historical
and theoretical concepts, methodologies and content you expect to convey with
this module. Identify specific Strauss you will use to accomplish this. Identify
some questions for inquiry you hope your students will raise in the process
of this module.
Other:
Other students might want to write a diary or journal as if you were an emigrant
from Europe to any of the conquered and colonized areas. This will require
extensive reading about the country the person left and the area he or she
settled in. In this project you will be evaluated on the basis of your understanding
of the issues involved in emigrating and settling elsewhere, ethnic and gender
issues, political, social, and economic issues.
Decisions to take one of these options must be made shortly after the first
paper is returned to you and must be made in conversation with me.
THE FOLLOWING BOOKS WILL BE NEEDED FOR THIS COURSE:
Elliott, J.H. THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW, Cambridge University Press
Parry, J.H. EUROPEAN RECONNAISSANCE, U. Of California Press
Schlesinger, Roger, IN THE WAKE OF COLUMBUS
Kupperman, Karen, AMERICA IN EUROPEAN CONSCIOUSNESS, University
of North Carolina Press
Lunenfeld, Marvin, Marvin, 1492: DISCOVERY, INVASION, ENCOUNTER (source
book on European discovery and colonization)
Mancall, Peter, ENVISIONING AMERICA (source book on English colonists)
Calloway, James, THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN (source book on natives)
A copy of each of the books and readings will be on RESERVE in Snell Library.
In addition there will be selected reading on reserve and assigned films in
the Media Center.
COURSE OUTLINE
Miranda: 0 brave new world
That has such people in't
Prospero: 'Tis new to thee.
[Shakespeare, "The Tempest"]
"The existence of America was one of the greatest disappointments in
the history of Europe." [C.S. Lewis, ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY. OXFORD, 1964]
"The discovery of the Indies, what we call the New World, is, excepting
only the Incarnation and the Death of Our Lord, the most important event since
the creation of the world." [Lopez de Gomara, GENERAL HISTORY OF THE
INDIES, 1552]
WEEK I
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE AND OURSELVES
INTRODUCTION TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD
FILM: "The Spirit of the Renaissance" MV7-4294 (Media Center)
WEEK 2
CONDITIONS FOR DISCOVERY I
Establishing some of the questions
READ: Bernard Bailyn, "The Idea of Atlantic History," ITINERARIO
20:1 (1996) 18-43 (ON RESERVE); Steven Stern, "Paradigms of Conquest:
History, Historiography and Politics,"JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES,
24(1992)1- 33 (ON RESERVE)
The Context of Early Modern European Culture
What questions for serious inquiry come up for you as a result of the of the
reading?
READ: Elliott, J.D. THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW (all); Chiapelli, FIRST IMAGES
OF AMERICA, Vol. 1: 1-35, (volume on RESERVE) Andrien, Kenneth and Adorno,
Roleno, TRANSATLANTIC ENCOUNTERS: Europeans and Andeans in the Sixteenth Century,
Chapter 1 "Spain in the Fifteenth Century" (ON RESERVE) Lunenfeld,
pp.11-33.
Spend time surveying the course material so that you can begin to frame Questions
for inquiry.
FILM: "Columbus' World" MV 7- 3021 (Media Center)
WEEK 3
CONDITIONS FOR DISCOVERY II
Medieval Expansion of Europe
Earlier North Atlantic voyages
European ideas about" the other"; indigenous peoples ideas' about
the other
Shifts in Trade Patterns
READ: Schwartz, Stuart, IMPLICIT UNDERSTANDINGS pp.I-96 skim to understand
the tradition of "the other" in European culture. Eric Wolf, EUROPE
AND THE PEOPLE WITHOUT A HISTORY, CH. 4, "Europe, Prelude to Expansion."(
RESERVE) Thornton, John, AFRICA AND AFRICANS IN THE MAKING OF THE ATLANTIC
WORLD, 1400-1680, pp.I-42 (RESERVE). Lunenfeld,33-44.
WEEK 4
THE CONTEXT FOR VOYAGES OF EXPLORATION
Precedents: Medieval travel and travel accounts
Technology: Navigation equipment, gunpowder, measuring devices.
Cartography
READ: J.H. Parry, THE AGE OF RECONNAISSANCE, 1-243; Lunenfeld, 61-102.
WEEK 5 ENCOUNTERING "THE OTHER"; FASHIONING THE OTHER.
"Each man calls barbarism what is not his own practice" [Montaigne]
AMERICA ENTERS EUROPEAN CONSCIOUSNESS Responses to America: Discourse of Discovery
READ: Schlesinger, IN THE WAKE OF COLUMBUS, 51-81"European Conceptions
of Native Americans"
READ: Patricia Seed, CEREMONIES OF POSSESSION, Introduction and Chapter I.
(ON RESERVE)
ART and IMAGES OF DISCOVERY
READ: Claire Farago, REFRAMING THE RENAISSANCE, Introduction and Chapter 11
and 12 (ON RESERVE);
ARTIFACTS: COLLECTING
READ: Karen Kupperman, 33-195; 295-361; Stephen Greenblatt, MARVELOUS POSSESSIONS,
Chapters 3, 4, 5 (on RESERVE); Schwartz, IMPLICIT UNDERSTANDINGS Chapter 12
"Interpretations of distance made Tangible" (on RESERVE)
WEEK 6 ENCOUNTERING THE OTHER; FASHIONING THE OTHER
TRAVEL LITERATURE
John Mandeville
Columbus
Jean de Lery
READ: Lunenfeld, 35-40; Jean de Lery, HISTORY OF A VOYAGE TO THE LAND OF BRAZIL,
trans and ed., by Janet Whatley, Introduction and sample. (Book on RESERVE);
PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE
The Hakluyts
George Peckham
Thomas Harriot
Walter Raleigh
READ: Peter Mancall, ed., ENVISIONING AMERICA: English Plans for the Colonization
of North America, 33-71; 107-127.
WEEK 7 THE DISCOURSE OF DISCOVERY LITERATURE
Utopian: Thomas. More, UTOPIA (1515)
Didactic: Michel de Montaigne, CANNIBALS
Belles lettres: William Shakespeare, THE TEMPEST(excerpts)
(Note, one could also read OTHELLO here for a view of other 16th century attitudes)
READ: Thomas More, UTOPIA (read to identify important aspects of English culture
in Book 1: the influence of the new world on More's thinking in Book 2 (ON
RESERVE); Michel Montaigne, "Cannibals" (RESERVE) Shakespeare, THE
TEMPEST excerpts TBA. (looking for influence of perceptions the New World
on the ideas Shakespeare explores. Porter, INCONSTANT SA V AGE (XEROX of chapter
in this book ON RESERVE) entitled"TheTempest;" Chiapelli, FIRST
IMAGES, I: 83-89 (ON RESERVE);
GENDER AND THE DISCOURSE OF DISCOVERY
READ: Perlmutter, "Visual Historical Methods" in HISTORY METHODS
(Fall, 1994), (RESERVE) Students will find this is a very useful introduction
to the historical use of visual materials.
STUDY: The images in Lunenfeld, pp. 60-75. Come to class prepared to discuss.
READ: Louis Montrose, "The Work of Gender in the Discourse of Discovery"
in REPRESENTATIONS 33 (1991) 1-39. Article (ON RESERVE); John Higham, "Indian
Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America." PROCEEDINGS
OF THE AMERICAN I ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, 100:1 (1900),45-79; Leacock, Eleanor,
"Montagnis Women and the Jesuit Program for Coionization," in WOMEN
IAND COLONIZATION: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, ed., Mona Etienne and Eleanor
Leacock, NY: Praeger, 1980, 25-42; June Nash, "Aztec Women: The Transitions
from Status to Class in Empire and Colony." in WOMEN AND COLONIZATION:
ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, 134-148.
EUROPEANS IN NATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS
READ: Axtell, AFTER COLUMBUS "Through another glass darkly: Early Indian
Views of Europeans."(Chapter 8); Calloway,THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
Introduction and Ch.l (pp.1-42); Lunenfeld, 255-273.
We will spend time here examining Spanish and Aztec images of "the other"
WEEK 8
COLONIZATION
America and European Aspirations
Making passage
Conquest
Colonies: Successes and Failures
Orinoco
Roanoke
Brazil
Florida
Canada
Mexico
Peru
Atlantic Colonies
New England
READ: Kuppennan, Part III; Parry, 243-320; Pagden, EUROPEAN ENCOUNTERS WITH
THE NEW WORLD, Introduction and Chapter I (ON RESERVE); Bennett, SETTLEMENTS
IN THE AMERICAS, Introduction.(ON RESERVE) Come prepared to talk about it
Axtell, THE CULTURAL ORIGINS OF NORTH AMERICA, Introduction and Chapter I.
(ON RESERVE); Peter Mancall, ENVISIONING AMERICA, Introduction, pp 1- 31 (ON
RESERVE); Lunenfeld, 157-229
WEEK 9
EMIGRANTS AND EMIGRATION
Who came?
Why did they come?
Making passage
Race considerations
Gender ramifications
READ: Ida Altman and James Horn, "TO MAKE AMERICA" European Emigration
in the Early Modern Period, Introduction (pp.I-30) and one other chapter that
interests you. (ON RESERVE); Lockhart and Otte. LETTERS AND PEOPLE OF THE
SPANISH INDIES, pp (ON RESERVE) specific letters will be assigned.
STYLES OF COLONIAL IDENTITY
Spanish
French
English
Dutch
German
READ:Nicholas Canny and Anthony Pagden, ed., COLONIAL IDENTITY IN THE ATLANTIC
WORLD, 1500-1800, Chapters 1 &5 Spanish America and British America (RESERVE);
Lunenfeld 229-55; 287-309
WEEK 10
CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES
European Economics and America
READ: Schlesinger, 1-23
European Politics and America
READ: Schlesinger, 23-51
Metamorphosis of the Americas
Crops; animals; disease; destruction
Exchange
READ: Schlesinger, 81-108
Africans and the new World
READ: Thornton, John AFRICA AND AFRICANS IN THE MAKING OF THE ATLANTIC WORLD,
Ch 5 (RESERVE); Lunenfeld, 309-355.
WRAP UP
© 2001 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Created November 2002.