The Atlantic space in the modern age

This course will analyze, from a multiplicity of themes and viewpoints, the rise of new geographical, commercial and religious space in the modern age: the Atlantic space. An attempt will be made to understand how the new Atlantic space opens up and confronts the old European culture, profoundly changing its contours. Privileged themes of the course will be the birth and development of the great colonial empires, their political and legal structures in the relationship between center and peripheries, but also travel and commercial, cultural and religious exchanges, as well as the emergence of new prophecies and ethnographies related to the Americas.

The first part will be devoted to a general introduction on the topic and to the analysis and discussion of classic texts and new historiographical trends on the subject. 

An additional 10 hours of supplementary teaching, taught by the professor, will be specifically devoted to reading essays and sources, for an initial introduction to reading historical texts.

The second part of the course module will be devoted to trade and trading routes and the establishment of a monopoly system, along the Atlantic axis and the Carrera de Indias, seeking to understand how men, books, silver and knowledge traveled in the modern age, what the sea routes were, what the timing was, and the rules of travel and crossings. Special attention will be paid to the urban spaces of the new Atlantic space: to the great Atlantic ports, transit cities, but also to the emergence of the great American metropolis (especially Tenochtitlán-Mexico City and Lima) or the new global economic centers (Zacatecas and Potosí) and their silver mines

The third part will examine the emergence of cross prophecies between the old and new worlds, trying to understand how and to what extent the American world, with new knowledge, aesthetics and ethnographies changes European knowledge.

A great amount of time will be devoted to the reading of original texts and documents, as well as to the analysis of visual sources. Introductory lectures and in-class reading of texts and printed or manuscript sources are offered, with paleographic exercises on manuscript sources.

The course does not require any prerequisites but does require an active engagement of students. 

As every year, a detailed course syllabus will be provided, with required and recommended readings for each week. Pdfs and texts will be available through teams, and students will be asked to read and comment on texts or essays in class, individually or even in groups. As every year, a detailed course syllabus will be provided, with compulsory and recommended readings for each week. Pdf and texts will be available through teams.