Wednesday, 4-6:45, H-126

Dr. Gayle K. Brunelle Office: Humanities 710E

History 490 Tel: (714)278-7045

Email: gbrunelle@fullerton.edu (714)278-3474

Office Hours: W, 10-12

Papers Due: Wednesday, May 26, 8 p.m.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Patricia Seed, Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640, (Cambridge, 1995)

Morris, J. Bayard, Hernando Cortes: Five Letters of Cortez, (Norton, 1991)

J. H. Parry, The Age of Reconnaissance, ( Univ. of Calif., 1982)

The Account: Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's Relación, Martin A. Favata, ed., (Arte Publico Press, 1993)

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1500-1570, (Cambridge, 1987, 2003), ISBN: 052379814

This class is the senior capstone seminar for the History major. Its topic will be Europe in the Age of Expansion, from the medieval period through the eighteenth century. Although the primary focus of the class will be student research papers, during the first half of the class, we will also read and discuss in class texts designed to offer students sufficient common background in the field of European exploration and expansion to support their own research and discussion of each other's projects. The focus of the class will be on the early modern period (fifteenth through seventeenth centuries) when the bulk of European exploration, and the first wave of European colonization, took place. Students may choose, however, to research the medieval beginnings of European expansion, or the development of European colonies in the eighteenth century. The European presence in Asia and Africa, as well as the New World, will be discussed in class, and students will not be restricted geographically in choosing the topics for their papers.

The focus of the class will be primarily thematic, and students will be expected to orient their papers around a thematic question. For example, we will discuss extensively the encounters between Europeans and the native peoples of other parts of the world. We will look at how Europeans interpreted non-European cultures in terms of their own European culture. We will also examine the impact of the encounters on Europeans' world view and self identity, as well as the more practical biological and economic implications for the development of Europe, and its ability to establish direct control of, or hegemony over, many other parts of the world. Thus in this class students should expect to consider both the heroism and adventure of the Age of European Expansion, and the tragedy and tyranny that resulted from it as well.

ASSESSMENT AND CLASS REQUIREMENTS

Because this class is a senior seminar, students will be expected to write a significant paper based on primary as well as secondary sources. This paper, twenty-five to thirty pages in length, will constitute sixty percent of a student's final grade. THIS PAPER WILL BE DUE THE DATE OF THE FINAL EXAM, WEDS. May 23, NO LATER THAN 7 P.M.! Late papers will be docked ten points per day, unless the student has received permission to hand the paper in late. Permission will not be granted lightly; therefore, please plan your time during the semester so that you are not completing your paper at the last minute when, as we all know, crises invariably arise. I will read and comment upon paper drafts handed in to me no later than week fourteen of the semester.

Reading: J. H. Parry, The Age of Reconnaissance, all.

Week Three (2/18): Paper Topics. This week we will discuss paper topics and possible sources. Students should bring to class a brief draft (1-2 pages) summary of a possible paper topics. During the first half of class students will meet in Special Collections in the Library to view the map collection. During the following several weeks, students should be hunting for sources, especially primary sources, for their papers. What is a topic question? Why do all research papers need one?

Week Four (2/25): European conceptualization of the New World and its peoples.  How did Europeans view their initial encounters with the New World, and how were their ideas about their conquest of new territories and peoples culturally conditioned?  

Reading:  Seed, Ceremonies of Possession, all.

Week Five (3/3): How do we analyze primary sources? How do we use them to ask and answer historical questions? This week we will discuss a primary source often used in research on the Age of Expansion, the letters of Hernando Cortes. We will analyze the letters in detail, and work through problems of interpretation.

Reading, Cortes, Five Letters

Week Six)(3/10): Analysis of primary sources continued.  This week we will discuss another type of primary source, written accounts from explorers themselves. Also, what is an "annotated" bibliography, and why are they useful.

Reading: The Account, all.

Week Seven (3/17): Europeans and the "Other;" class of cultures and colonization. Reading: Clendinnen, Ceremonies of possession, all. Also, discussion of paper topics and bibliographies. Students should bring to class a draft of a paper topic proposal (3 pages) and a preliminary working bibliography.

Week Eight (3/24): Paper topic proposals and working annotated bibliographies due. In class discussion of student progress and research.

Week Ten (4/14): In class discussion of progress of student research. Students should be prepared to bring to class a draft thesis statement and an updated annotated bibliography.

Week Eleven (4/21): In class discussion of revised thesis statements and bibliographies.

Week Twelve (4/28): Outlines and Working Annotated Bibliographies due.  In class discussion of student research progress.

Week Thirteen (5/5): Return outlines and bibliographies.  In class discussion of student research progress.

Week Fourteen (5/12): Paper drafts due. Individual appointments with students as needed.

Week Fifteen (5/19): Return paper drafts. Individual appointments with students as needed.

Week Sixteen: Weds, May 26, 8 p.m. Final papers due.

Internet Resources

In addition to the map collection, you can also find images, including maps, which you can use as primary sources for your papers as the web sites listed below. There are scores of others sites out there on cartography and the history of discovery and exploration. Feel free to explore yourselves to find other sites.

Library of Congress Map Collections, 1597-1988

Bodelian Library Map Room

Exploring the West from Monticello. A perspective in Maps from Columbus to Lewis and Clark

Yale University Map Collection

The Lanman Collection, Yale University Library

Latitude: The Science of Sailing the World, Huntington Library

Highlights from the Koninkilijke Bibliotheek

The Ryhiner Collectio

Map History/History of Cartography

Le Antiche Carte Geografiche, University of Bologna

World/California - Digital Map Collection, UC Berkeley

The Catalan Atlas, 14^th Century, Bibliotheque Nationale, France

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