This week we will bring together Europe, Africa and the Americas. On Monday, the class will look at North America, Europe and Africa in the year 1500 -- just before Contact. We will engage in a brief historical overview of the cultures, governments, and economics trends of Africa and Europe in the years leading up to 1500. Much of the European focus will be upon England. We will then discuss European contact with the "New World" from Christopher Columbus through the early English colonial attempts. A large theme here will be the national competitions between Spain, France and England over the newly discovered continent.
Wednesday's class will look at the Origins of American Liberty in England. So much of what we think as American (democracy, civil rights, liberty, taxation only with representation) is indeed English. We will discuss the English Civil War, the Restoration, Great Plague and Fire of 1665-6, the Glorious Revolution and John Locke.
Our field trip for the week, on Thursday, 1 July, will be the National Portrait Gallery in the morning and the Tower of London in the afternoon.
The Tower dates back to the original Normans in 1078, and has housed everyone from Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth, and Guy Fawkes to Thomas More, Walter Raleigh, and Rudolf Hess. One can also choose to walk over the famous Tower Bridge.
Aerial view of Tower of London
Historic drawing of the Tower
The Traitor's Gate
One of the Tower guards
The White Tower
King Henry VIII from the National Portrait Gallery
Henry's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I (National Portrait Gallery)
Henry's ill-fated second wife, Anne Boleyn (National Portrait Gallery)
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