Dr. Shrout – Page 23 – Atlantic History

Final Project Topic

October 9, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

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For my final project, I would like to focus on the piracy in the Atlantic. More specifically, the beginning and politics of piracy. Pirates were not necessarily a form of social resistance. The politics of piracy played an important part of the process where the British state began to exercise, or attempt to exercise, authority across the Atlantic maritime networks which expanded significantly during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Final Project Topic: Changing of the Colonial Guard

October 8, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For my final project topic I decided to focus on an often overlooked conflict in U.S. history. I will being doing research on the Spanish-American war and the impacts it had on the Atlantic world. The beginning of the war may have been a fabricated excuse for American involvement and the war itself may have been a mere four months, still its out come would solidified U.S. dominance in the western hemisphere and express the end of Spanish colonial rule in Latin America. American rugged individualism developed from the war as Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders symbolized American character against a weakened Spanish colonial power. After the war the U.S. embarked on its own expansionist ventures in the Pacific and the Atlantic due in part to the acquisition of Spanish territories. Spain would renounce all claim to Cuba, cede Guam and Puerto Ric to the U.S., and transfer sovereignty over the Philippines to the U.S. for 20 million dollars. The war showcased an important turning point in European colonial efforts in Latin America. Spain’s defeat turned the nation’s attention away from its overseas colonial adventures to instead focus on domestic issues. Overall, what I find interesting about this topic is what it signaled for the rest of the world. The United States would emerge a world power with oversea possessions and a new stake in international politics. This would prove important in the years to come as the nation devised whether it would involve itself in an expansive European war.

Final Project Proposal

October 8, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

From the project choices I posted during Week Five, I plan on researching the how the American Civil War changed cotton trade between the American South and the European counties of Great Britain and France. Before the American Civil War, According historian Louis P. Masur, three-fourths of the world’s cotton supply was produced in the American South. The Atlantic cotton trade not only made the Southern aristocrats wealthy, it also established the American South as a world economic power. Under the myth that Southern cotton was an indispensable commodity, Southern Senator James Henry Hammond in 1859 made his “King Cotton” speech. In the speech Hammond said that no one makes war on cotton because if the cotton trade is disrupted or stopped that the whole civilized world would collapse starting with England. Since the South relied heavily on foreign trade, the “King Cotton” diplomacy would end up hurting the Southern states. During the American Civil War, the North constructed a blockade which virtually cut off Southern cotton trade with European nations. Instead of trying to sell off the cotton they had on hand, the South started their embargo of cotton to Europe. Producers cut back on production and also burned excess cotton. The rationale behind the embargo was that British and French powers, needing Southern cotton, would crush the Union naval blockade and involve themselves in the Civil War. This was flawed thinking. What the South did not know was England and France were sitting on enormous reserves of cotton due the Southern overproduction. Also cotton production in Egypt and India started to yield acceptable cotton crops. As a result, Britain and France with the cotton supplies almost virtually uninterrupted would not come to the aid of the South and their war to continue the system of slavery. I recently found out about the European connection (mostly Britain) to the American Civil War where there was an actual fear and threat of European involvement interested me in this topic. Since most people think the Civil War was a conflict between the North and South, the Atlantic world dynamic shows how the war not only affected the United States but also Europe.

Final Project Proposal

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For my final project, I will be studying the difference between colonization of the New World through Protestant and Catholic nations. I want to examine the effects both religions had on invaded territories and their inhabitants, as well as how these two faith in Europe affected political relations and how they tied into exploration and discovery.

Catholicism and Protestantism both seek to spread the truth about Christ and their respective churches through conversion and exploration and expansion between the 15th and 19th centuries. Utilized as justification, weaponry, threat, conversion tactics, and diplomacy, religion played a pivotal role in European domination of the Atlantic. My goal in this project will be to analyze the psychologies behind colonization and slavery, and how Christianity contributed to Eurocentrism throughout the Atlantic.

Final Project Topic

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For my final project I would like to research the effect crops native to the Americas had on European diets. Some the world’s most popular crops are native to the Americas and I think it would be interesting to look at the diets of Europe before and after their introduction. Dishes like fish and chips, gnocchi and shepherd’s pie are all considered European “classics” but they could not exist without the potatoe, a crop native to South America. So what did the European “classics” look like prior to the introduction of American crops and how quickly were these crops adopted into the European diet.

In my research I would probably go back about five centuries so that I can see the diets of European counties immediately before and after the introduction of these crops and see how quickly they entered the standard diets of Europe’s peoples. It would also interest me to see what crops were left out of specific counties diets after their discovery in the Americas. For example what counties did not adopt corn into their diet and for what reason was it left out, were there cultural reasons? Did it not agree with that county’s palette? Was it not compatible with the dishes already being served in that country?

I realize that this topic is a little broad but I feel like I could cover most of the relevant info in my final project. That being said if you feel that it needs to be narrowed I am willing to cover a small group of crops rather than all of them.

Final Paper Topic

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For my final research project, I decided to write about the Panama Canal and how it has proved in the past century to be an effective transoceanic passage link for Europeans to enter from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. I find this topic to be very interesting because I’ve always loved geography (I used to stare at maps and globes as a kid) and I think the Panama Canal plays a very crucial role in connecting all the reachable maritime locations of both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Panama being the smallest country between the two oceans and having waterways that big made this world project all the more feasible.

I also would like to include other smaller, pivotal oceanic straits along the Atlantic such as Gibraltar in the Mediterranean and the Strait of Magellan in the southernmost tip of South America because they were also important for maritime European travel and transport of resources long before the Panama Canal was constructed. First the Spanish made use of Panama’s rich waterways when they crossed the country by foot and by river just to get to Peru. The Magellan strait in particular was like the second phase of Europeans attempting to reach East Asia, following Columbus’ four voyages that happened only a decade ago when Magellan first began his. Eventually, all other naval entities such as the English and the French had to risk sailing around the hazardous, storm-infested Cape Horn to reach Pacific destinations. One figure who’s crucially noted for making this passage was the English privateer, Sir Francis Drake, who sailed up the northern Pacific as far as Alaska in search of the “Middle Passage” back to England. Cape Horn was renamed Drake’s Passage as a result to honor his endeavor. My goal in researching this topic is to understand what common European thought on going to the Pacific was like before ideas of the Panama Canal came to thought, or at best, ideas on how to build the canal itself.

Final Paper Topic

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For my final paper, I would like to write on the difference in roles African women had in Europe vs. the New World.

Final Paper Topic

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For my final paper, I would like to write on the difference in roles African women had in Europe vs. the New World.

Final Project Topic

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

My final project for this class will focus on the Middle Passage and slavery across the Atlantic. I am interested in this topic because I am interested in researching the relationships had between enslaved peoples and their captors as well as how the Middle Passage itself served as a unique space that provided unique opportunities for both European and African peoples. I want to be able to explore this space and peoples’ interactions within in it with much greater detail with my final project.

Final project topic

October 7, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

For the final project, I have decided to look at the trip of a worker(s) who was on a ship bound from England to the Americas. During the founding of colonies in North America by the English, there were a variety of reasons why a person would leave England for America. Furthermore, not all people were able to pay for the voyage so many had to sign contracts of servetude in order to pay for their passage. In this project I want to look at possible conditions aboard a ship bound for America, possible reasons that people left to the Americas, and the means by which they were able to afford to cross to the Americas (If they paid for it themselves or relied on somebody else to pay).

I find this topic interesting becuase I enjoy looking at the history of common people and their struggles. I’m also interested in the history of migrations of people as seeing why people would want to leave what is familiar, can be quite interesting. I find these aspects to be intriguing becuase often times when we look at history it is the history of great people or people who have power. It is not very often that we look at the life of those who did not have very much power or money.

Atlantic History – Fall 2016

Author: Dr. Shrout

Final Project Topic

Final Project Topic: Changing of the Colonial Guard

Final Project Proposal

Final Project Proposal

Final Project Topic

Final Paper Topic

Final Paper Topic

Final Paper Topic

Final Project Topic

Final project topic