The Old Science in the New World: Nature, Culture, and Empire in the Age of Exploration

Studies how Spain's exploration and conquest of the Americas tested European understandings of the natural world; of nature's bearing on human psycho-physiology and, thereby, on culture; and of the balance between normalcy and deviance in natural and human domains. Topics range from changing theories about the distribution of land and life around the globe to "natural" and "moral" histories implicated in a debate over Spain's rights to the Americas and its peoples. Readings: Aristotle, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, Columbus, Vespucci, Oviedo, Las Casas, and Acosta. Students will be able to read primary texts in either Spanish or English. Discussion in English. Undergraduates welcome.