Course Description
Welcome to Mediterranean World, 1450-1750! The Mediterranean Sea has been a dynamic crossroad for people, goods, and ideas for thousands of years. In this course, we will explore the Mediterranean world in the early modern period. Beginning with the late medieval commercial revolution and the Black Death, we will examine the historical patterns of state development, economic growth, cultural change, and imperial conflict that shaped Mediterranean societies during the Renaissance. Highlights will include discussions of Braudel’s influential conception of the Mediterranean, Annales history, national historiographies, maritime societies, cultural history, material culture, Mediterranean identities, and religious conflict. Students will consider key aspects of Mediterranean history that are vital for understanding the Mediterranean today, such as urbanization, commercial expansion, historical geography, Renaissance knowledge, migration, Muslim-Christian relations, Mediterranean Jews, Reformation religious change, Counterreformation religiosity, scientific ‘revolution’, navigation, maritime empires, plantation complex, biological exchange, and gendered honor conceptions.
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Brian Sandberg: Historical Perspectives 