History 250: New Worlds, New Empires: North America 1600-1800

When British colonists arrived on the North American continent they met an array of people who made the French and the Germans look familiar, so different were their cultures, material practices, and social and political systems. Within decades, people from a third continent were added to the mix, as the trade in African chattel slaves became a standard feature of trans-Atlantic commerce and colonial economies. We will explore various encounters between Europeans, Africans, and original Americans, asking how they interacted with, adapted to, and influenced each other, and compare experiences both within and between these complex groups (poorer and richer Englishmen; Catawbas and Pequots and Algonkians; people enslaved in Pennsylvania or Virginia; more). Finally, we will examine the growth, government, economy, institutions, and social structures of British North America in the 18th Century, the changes and continuities of Revolutionary America, and the making of the “new” United States, the nation emerging from this complex colonial past.