The Global British Empire, 1600-The Present

Catalog description

This course charts the long history and continuing legacies of the British Empire, an entity that has transformed every single continent over the last four centuries and is widely associated with the makings of the modern world. We examine how and why a powerful and expansive British Empire emerged and sustained itself. Equally, we zoom in on the regular contestation and even outright rebellion that this transcontinental polity inspired. This course is an opportunity to think connectively and comparatively about historical experiences in America, India, the Caribbean, and Africa among multiple other British imperial spaces. We will track the making and unmaking of the British Empire by studying the evolution of global trade, labor regimes including slavery, the consumption of commodities such as sugar, as well as new ideas about governance, race, and identity.