Atlantic Travelers

Catalog description

The objective of this seminar is to introduce students to the subjects of mobility and empires in the early modern Atlantic World. Through close reading of primary and secondary sources and discussions, students will become familiar with the experiences of many types of travelers that between 1492 and the early nineteenth century traversed the Atlantic Ocean from the Old to the New World. The class will also draw students' attention to the multiplicity of perspectives from which history can be narrated. The cast of travelers will include conquistadors, puritan settlers, pirates, slaves, indentured servants, scientists, loyalist refugees, black sailors, creole patriots, military adventurers, and women. The discussions will emphasize the different ways in which these travelers crossed the Atlantic, adapted to life in the Americas, and, in the process, contributed to the creation of the Atlantic World. Although no prior knowledge of Atlantic history is required, this seminar is ideal for students who have previously taken courses on colonial Latin America, early modern Europe, colonial America, African history, and other related surveys and seminars. (HIST-HGS, HIST-HPE)