Module Directory

This module focuses on some of the most important of the interactions which European peoples had with the other peoples of the globe, exploring when, why and how they happened, and with what consequences (cultural, environmental, material, political, and economic) for the people and places involved.

The module will foreground the power dynamics of these interactions and incorporate non-European as well as European perspectives on them.

The aims of this module are:

• To help students understand:
  
  
  
  • The most important interactions between European and non-European peoples during the early modern period, their causes and consequences.
  
  
  • The power dynamics of these interactions for Europeans and non-Europeans.
  
  
  • How categories such as gender, race, and religion shaped people’s experiences of these interactions.
  
  
  • How and why European and non-European perspectives on these interactions varied.
  
  
  • Some of the key historical sources about these interactions, and how to read them effectively.
  
  

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Be able to critically examine secondary sources.


2. Be able to engage critically with relevant historiographies.


3. Develop skills of communicating verbally in seminar discussions and in written assessments.


4. Develop a more critical perspective on early modern interactions between Europeans and non-Europeans and their consequences.


5. Consider what factors shape people’s experiences of historical events and processes.

The early modern period (c.1450-c.1750) saw a profound increase in the number and type of interactions which European peoples had with the other peoples of the globe, resulting in a significant change in transnational movements of people, ideas, diseases, and things. These processes of interaction constituted a decisive turning-point in global and European history and continue to shape the world we live in today.

Indicative syllabus

• Material context, material exchanges.


• The Chinese/European porcelain trade.


• The 'Columbian Exchange' (I): Plants, foodstuffs, animals.


• The environmental impact of Spanish sheep-farming on Central Mexico.


• The Columbian Exchange (II): Disease.


• The impact of small-pox.


• Religions and the supernatural.


• Missionary journeys and identities OR the Salem witch-trials.


• Religious conflict.


• The eradication of Christianity in Japan.


• European colonial empires (I).


• The Americas.


• European colonial empires (II).


• Asia and Africa.


• Gender and the social 'order' in the early modern world.


• Malintzin and Pocahontas OR missionaries and masculinities.


• Making sense of encounters.


• Non-European perceptions of their encounters with Europeans.


• Conclusion: Europe and the wider world by the 18th century.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 50-minute lecture per week.
• One 50-minute seminar per week.

The lectures will cover big themes which will be explored through selected case-studies in seminars.
All module information will be available via Moodle; seminar readings will be digitised and available on Talis.