Fall 2007

HIS 310K • Latin Amer Civ: Colonial Experience

Course Description

This class will look at the history of Colonial "Latin America" from the voyages of discovery at the end of the fifteenth century through to the wars for independence at the beginning of the nineteenth century. We will focus on three distinct geographic regions: Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. Particular attention will be paid to the environmental histories of each of these regions throughout the colonial period. We will examine how different people, at different times, understood, interacted with, and changed the natural environment. Alongside this central focus, we will also discuss the meaning of colonialism in Colonial Latin America, and think about how people at the time understood race, gender, war, politics, and social hierarchies. Partially fulfills Legislative requirement for American History.

Grading Policy

Weekly Response Papers: 40% Mid-term Exam (including map test): 20% Writing Assignment 1: 15% Writing Assignment 2: 25%

Texts

Kenneth Mills, William Taylor, and Sandra Lauderdale Graham, Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History (Wilmington, Del., 2002) Kenneth Andrien, Andean Worlds: Indigenous history, cultures, and consciousness under Spanish Rule, 1532-1825 (Albuquerque, 2001) Alan Knight, Mexico: The Colonial Era, (Cambridge UK, 2002) Alida Metcalf, Go-betweens and the Colonization of Brazil, 1500-1600, (Austin, 2005) Course Reader.

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