A summary of the first half, so the first seven weeks of the course the Americas III. It is a time period of , the period of colonial foundations and ondekkingsreizen to the American continent.
Summary the Americas III Exam
2
1 MAIN THEMES (COLONIAL FOUNDATIONS 1500 –
1700)
- Week 1: Colliding Worlds – Spain and the Americas in the Sixteenth
Century
- Week 2: Fish, Furs & Tobacco – The Beginnings of French and English
Settlement in North America
- Week 3: Spirit of Place – Religion and Identity in Seventeenth Century
New England
- Week 4: Diversity & Empire – The Middle Colonies
- Week 5: From the Caribbean to the Carolinas: Sugar, Rice and Slavery
- Week 6: Capital, Labor, and the Black Atlantic: The Rise of Slavery and
the Economy of Colonial America
- Week 7: Slavery in the Americas
1.1 EXAM INFORMATION
- Written exam
- 3 hours
- 2 parts
2 synthetic essays in which the student makes insightful
connections between a range of historical events, sources, concepts
and ideas.
Understand the big picture with connections between the
different subjects, basically explaining the Spanish, French,
English and the Dutch colonies and their connections and
differences
1.2 STUDY STRATEGY
- RESEARCH FACTS ON AUTHORS AND TEXTS ON WIKIPEDIA
- MAKE STUDY QUESTIONS ON NESTOR
- Read notes from seminars + slides from lectures
- Read LEP chapters partially + read primary source texts partially
- Make a summary from week 1 to week 7
Main historical events of the periods (mention dates)
Texts analysis’s of primary sources (mention quotes)
1.3 LIBERTY, EQUALITY & POWER
, - Relevant chapters in LEP: 1, 2, 3
- Relevant primary sources of weeks 1 – 7
2 WEEK 1 – COLLIDING WORLDS – SPAIN
AND THE AMERICAS IN THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY
2.1 LECTURE
Adam Smith – “The Wealth of Nations”
- Written in 1776, same year as the Declaration of Independence
- Capitalism is based on the vice of greed, it is a necessity and good /
positive thing according to Smith
Good for the “common wealth” of the nation
- “The discovery of America and the passage to the East Indies through
Cape of Good Hope were the most significant happenings / changes during
the history of mankind”
- Abbe Raynal (1713 – 1796)
Wrote during 1780 if the discovery of America was actually so
important, and if so, why?
Foucault: “Origin lies at a place of inevitable loss”
- When a certain discourse is obscured and replaced by a new narrative
Example: Europeans discovering the American continent and basically
replacing the Native Americans and their culture
- Historical discourse is the narrative that mankind linked to certain events
or “origins”
Discovery
- America most likely first colonized by Asian Homo sapiens who travelled
over the ice bridges / glaziers during the ice age. Many years later it was
discovered by Columbus
- Columbus was interested in the Venetian Marco Polo and his documented
travels along the Silk route through Asia in the 1200s, while meeting
great / famous historical figures such as the Mongolian Khan
Nation = a group of people who share a language, culture etc.
Example: Frisians
State / Country = a region with recognized borders
Nation-state = . . .
Reconquista
- The Spanish and Portuguese re-conquest (1095 – 1492)
, Re-conquest from the Muslims / Islamic states
Same time ending (1492) as the discovery of America
Link between Reconquista
Important to make and discovery of America
these links / is the development of
connections! ruling ambition and world
domination
- Spain, Portugal, England and the Netherlands were the first countries to
develop modern statehood, but also the first to colonize the Americas
Important connection for the beginnings of the Americas
- Venice had a monopoly on trade and because of this monopoly, the
financial means to fund explorations such as the one by Columbus to go
discover a short route to India for better trading routes
Originally there was no interest in the American continent, they
desperately wanted to find India for its highly profitable spices
- ...
, 2.2 SEMINAR
Spanish America
- Columbus projected his preceding knowledge of India on the American
continent when he “discovered” it
European culture projected onto Native Americans
“On the Recently Discovered Islands of the Indian Sea” – Columbus
(1494)
- Since Venice had the monopoly on trade, because of this Spain and
Portugal got irritated and wanted to find their own trading route
Looking for value in spices to fund their armies in European wars
- Columbus found gold and cotton instead of spices and exaggerates his
findings tremendously to collect more financial help from the Crown
He projected what his King and other bosses wanted to see
“deep waters, vast flowing rivers, dry land” perfect way to
describe a disease-free environment
- He pleases both the Crown and also the Church with “willing converts to
the Christian religion”
Seminar Information
- The discovery of America was only possible because of the ambition for
domination in the European continent
- The society (Spanish) in the New World was set up the exact same as the
hierarchical structure that was present in Spain itself, based on absolute
power
- The Spanish model of colonization was based on state structure and a
hierarchical system, while the British model was based on individual
business and more democracy (to a certain extent) which in the end was
more successful
“Second Letter to Charles V” – Cortes (1520)
- Cortes describes Mexico City (Temixtitlan) as an unbelievable city
comparing it to Spanish grandeur
- Present Cathedral in Mexico City literally placed on top of ancient temples
See p. 11
Replacing the current structure by their own in name of the Lord or the
King
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