Life and Death On the High Seas

3 units

The sea is one harsh mistress. For centuries, men - and women - have crisscrossed the oceans on frail bits of wood, rope, and canvas, sometimes in hopes of adventure, a better life, pillage; sometimes, in anger and despair that came with harsh labor, or enslavement. In this class, we will retrace their voyages, their steps, their stories - from ports to ships, from the seas to the coast. We will encounter women of power and influence on the coast of Senegal; merchants and marauders in the Caribbean, cross-dressing sailors and tyrannical captains in the North Atlantic; scientists and botanists in the Pacific. We will follow rebellions and mutinies of sailors and enslaved people. This class therefore looks at urban history, the history of labor, of slavery, of gender, and of power. Pre-modern, Transregional