Admission requirements
This course is part of the (Res)MA History Programme. It is not accessible for BA students.
Description
In 1415 the Portuguese armies of king John I sailed across the strait of Gibraltar and invaded the North African stronghold of Ceuta, marking the beginning of the Iberian (and European) overseas expansion. In the course of the fifteenth century, Portuguese and Spanish ships reached the shores of the Americas (the Caribbean in 1492 and Brazil in 1500) and linked Europe to the Indian Ocean (Calicut in 1498) by rounding the Cape of Good Hope. The Iberians, framed by an universalist monarchy and view of empire and guided by the strict principles of Roman Law (translated into Civil and Canonic Law), brought about a globalization movement based on conquest, commercial exchanges, religious conversion, economic exploitation and the forced movement of peoples. The empires that made it all possible last until the turn of the millennium, when Macao was handed over to the People’s Republic of China by the Portuguese authorities, in December 1999. This course analyzes the mechanisms of empire building, development and fall within the logics of the Portuguese and Spanish monarchies (ancient regime and constitutional), its republican regimes, fascist dictatorships and newly born democracies, in Iberia and across five continents and three oceans. This course fosters a comparative, interdisciplinary and global approach that includes the colonial, imperial and decolonization stages of the Iberian empires.
Course objectives
General learning objectives
The student has acquired:
1) The ability to independently identify and select literature, using traditional and modern techniques;
2) The ability to independently identify and select sources, using traditional and modern techniques;
3) The ability to analyse and evaluate a corpus of sources with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
4) The ability to analyse and evaluate literature with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
5) The ability to independently formulate a clear and well-argued research question, taking into account the theory and method of the field and to reduce this question to accessible and manageable sub-questions;
6) The ability to independently set up and carry out an original research project that can make a contribution to existing scholarly debates;
7) The ability to give a clear and well-founded oral and written report on research results in correct English, when required, or Dutch, meeting the criteria of the discipline;
8) The ability to participate in current debates in the specialisation;
9) The ability to provide constructive feedback to and formulate criticism of the work of others and the ability to evaluate the value of such criticism and feedback on one’s own work and incorporate it;
10) (ResMA only:) The ability to participate in a discussion of the theoretical foundations of the discipline.
Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation
11) Thorough knowledge and comprehension of one of the specialisations or subspecialisations as well as of the historiography of the specialisation, focusing particularly on the following;
in the specialisation Colonial and Global History: how global (political, socio-economic, and cultural) connections interact with regional processes of identity and state formation; hence insight in cross-cultural processes (including the infrastructure of shipping and other modes of communication) that affect regions across the world such as imperialism, colonisation, islamisation, modernisation and globalisation (in particular during the period 1200-1940);
in the subspecialisation Maritime History also: the development of maritime history from the 16th century onwards; insight into recent issues in the field.
12) Thorough knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects of the specialisation or subspecialisation in question, with a particular focus on the following:
in the specialisation Colonial and Global History: empirical research from a comparative and connective perspective;
in the subspecialisation Maritime History also: comparative research; archive research.
Learning objectives, pertaining to this Research Seminar
The student:
13) Gains knowledge and insights into the Early Modern and Modern theoretical approaches to the study of empires (in general) and the Iberian Empires (in particular)
14) Applies comparative, interdisciplinary and global methodologies to build a historical narrative
15) Develops a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of empire building, maintenance and fall across geographies and chronologies.
16) (ResMA only) Develops the ability to interpret a potentially complex corpus of sources; the ability to identify new approaches within existing academic debates; and acquires knowledge of the interdisciplinary aspects of the specialization
Timetable
The timetable is available on the MA History website
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Course Load
Total course load 10 EC x 28 hours = 280 hours
Lectures: 13 sessions (2 hours weekly): 26 hours
Compulsory literature: 70 hours
Specific literature (including oral presentation): 50 hours
Research and reading literature for paper: 100 hours
Writing a paper: 35 hours
Assessment method
Assessment
Written essay (ca. 7500 words, based on research in primary sources, including footnotes and bibliography)
Measured learning objectives: 1-8, 13-16
Oral presentation and participation in class discussions
Measured learning objectives: 4, 5, 7, 8
Assignment 1 (Feedback session)
Measured learning objectives: 9-10
Assignment 2 (Weekly reflection)
Measured learning objectives: 6-7
Weighing
Written essay: 60 %
Oral presentation: 15%
Assignment 1 (feedback): 15%
Assignment 2 (weekly reflection): 10%
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average with the additional requirement that the written paper must always be sufficient.
Resit
Should the overall mark be unsatisfactory, the paper is to be revised after consultation with the instructor.
Exam review
How and when a review of the written paper will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the results, a review of the written paper will have to be organised.
Blackboard
Yes
Blackboard will be used for:
Communication with students
Posting syllabus and weekly readings
Reading list
Bethencourt, Francisco and Diogo Ramada Curto (eds.), Portuguese Oceanic Expansion, 1400-1800, London: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Maltby, William S., The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire, London: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2009.
Newitt, Malyn, Portugal in European and World History, London: Reaktion Books, 2009.
Phillips, William D. and Carla Rahn Phillips, A Concise History of Spain, London: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable
Contact
Remarks
Students are requested to read the compulsory literature before week 2 of the semester. Weekly readings will be assigned in the Blackboard at least 6 weeks before the start of the semester.