Postcards from the Atlantic World

This course explores the movement of peoples, goods and ideas across the four continents that border the Atlantic basin (Africa, Europe, North America and South America) over the transformative periods of exploration and empire from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The primary question underscoring the class: Does a distinct trans-Atlantic world emerge (as opposed to the overlapping encounters of different societies and cultures), and if so, when and what distinguishes it? This introduction also provides training in the skills of critical thinking including evaluation and interpretation of evidence, historical analysis and persuasive writing. These basic skills are critical foundations of any major but are especially geared to the aspiring history major