HIST 281QEmpires: Britain & Spain

Catalog

This course examines Spanish and British imperialism from the first Iberian navigations of Africa during the fifteenth century to the dissolution of both empires in the twentieth. It uses a comparative framework to explore the close relationship between commercial exchange, national identity, and the nature of empire. The course approaches these themes through the lens of global commodities (eg. sugar, silver, slaves, rum, rubber, guano, opium, diamonds, etc.) We will also examine unique and shared patterns of territorial exploration and acquisition; economic exploitation and trade; science and cartography; laws and freedoms; wars and revolutions; and the circulation of imperial fictions.