“Colonial Peoples in an Atlantic World”
Konstantin Dierks
History Department
Indiana University, Bloomington
“History Educators Project: Teaching American History
through the Lens of Indiana”
Retreat I, New Harmony IN, October 31, 2009, 3:15-5:00
●
from canonical document, to emerging scholarship
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from early national United States history
to early modern Atlantic history
i.e., three of four “quarters” of world:
Europe, Africa, America
Nash, Gary B. Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early North
America. 1974.
● multicultural peoples: Native Americans, Europeans, Africans
→ but still limited to British North America
Taylor, Alan. American Colonies. 2001.
● expansionist European empires: England/Britain, Spain and Portugal
to south and west, France to north, Russia to northwest, Holland and
Sweden in midst
→ but still centered on future United States -- though beyond 13
original colonies to embrace all 50 states (or at least up to 49th, Alaska)
“Atlantic world” encompasses:
● Europe
● Africa
● North America, South America, and Caribbean
far beyond confines of original or future United States....
key historical question is not origins and development of a
single nation-state (United States), but origins and
development of “modernity”
my graduate training: writing of American history in late 20th century
(1990s):
race and gender
rise of cultural history
buzzwords: representation, discourse
(before my time: as corrective to elitist political history, 1970s social
history had focused on subaltern social groups, as corrective to elitist
political history: i.e., African-Americans, Native Americans, women, etc.)
both “new” social history and “new” cultural history sought to counter
American exceptionalism (social harmony) by revealing internal
differences in American past and present
my professional re-training: writing of American history in early 21st
century (2000s):
“globalization”
rise of political economy
buzzwords: transnational, global
also sought to counter American exceptionalism (international
detachment) by revealing external connections in American past
and present
but there is a broader myth (and ideology) of American exceptionalism:
democracy, free enterprise, social mobility, individualism, etc.
early modern alter ego for American exceptionalism was Europe:
i.e., hierarchy, oppression, and constraint in Europe
versus freedom, abundance, and opportunity in America
“American exceptionalism” was actually first created by Europeans
more historically recent alter egos:
● Soviet Union during Cold War
● Islam during so-called “War on Terror”
in each case, versus freedom, abundance, and opportunity in America
Butler, Jon. Becoming America: The Revolution before 1776. 2000.
Appleby, Joyce. Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of
Americans. 2000.
American modernity was located by Butler in last colonial generation
before the War of American Independence, and by Appleby in first
national generation after the War of American Independence
They made contradictory claims about historical timing, yet “American”
“modernity” looked the same in both books:
● social diversity and religious pluralism (multiculturalism)
● commercial and consumerist (capitalist) economy
(progress and prosperity)
● democratic politics (freedom)
founding myth: Plymouth 1620 = “America”
Webster, Daniel. A Discourse Delivered at Plymouth, December 22,
1820. In Commemoration of the first Settlement of New-England.
1821.
Bancroft, George. A History of the United States, from the Discovery
of the American Continent to the Present Time. Vol. 1. 1834.
Sargent, Henry. The Landing of the Pilgrims (ca. 1818-1822) for the
Pilgrim Society in Plymouth MA link
Vanderlyn, John. Landing of Columbus at the Island of Guanahani,
West Indies, October 12th, 1492 (1839-1846) for the United States
Capitol in Washington DC link
Webster, Daniel. A Discourse Delivered at Plymouth, December 22,
1820. In Commemoration of the first Settlement of New-England.
1821.
Pilgrims represented:
● religious liberty
● free labor (not African slavery)
● economic development and progress (not staple economy)
● provincial pride (i.e., proto American nationalism)
● egalitarian landholding
● representative government
● public education
Pilgrim exceptionalism = American exceptionalism
Bancroft, George. A History of the United States, from the Discovery
of the American Continent to the Present Time. Vol. 1. 1834.
“I have dwelt at considerable length on this first period, because
it contains the germ of our Institutions. The maturity of the
nation is but a continuation of its youth. The spirit of the
colonies demanded freedom from the beginning.” (p. vii)
“freedom”?
Henry Sargent, The Landing of the Pilgrims (ca.1818-1822)
John Vanderlyn, Landing of Columbus (1839-1846)
revisionist myth: Jamestown 1607 = “America”
Horn, James P.P. A Land as God Made it: Jamestown and the Birth of
America. 2005.
Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. The Jamestown Project. 2007.
Price, David A. Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas,
and the Heart of a New Nation. 2003.
● first permanent colony, not mere outpost -- i.e., it was a new “nation”
● commercial utility, social mobility, and political freedom all based on
individualism -- i.e., it was “American.”
● capitalist, not communitarian like Plymouth -- i.e., Jamestown was real
“American.”
newest revisionism:
● Atlantic (Early American history)
● hemispheric (American studies)
● “global” (history and other disciplines in humanities/social sciences)
each removed from question of “nation” to question of “modern”
● Atlantic (Early American history)
● hemispheric (American studies)
● “global” (history and other disciplines in humanities/social sciences)
rejection of myth (and ideology) American exceptionalism
● “America” participated in larger global trends (of labor migration, etc.)
● “America” featured terrible violence on massive scale against Native
Americans and Africans -- not alongside white “freedom” but enabling it
i.e., “freedom” of some depended on “unfreedom” of many
→ this was not just “American” but “modern”
Bender, Thomas, ed. Rethinking American History in a Global Age. 2002.
Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. The Americas: A Hemispheric History. 2003.
Smolenski, John, and Humphrey, Thomas J., eds. New World Orders:
Violence, Sanction, and Authority in the Colonial Americas. 2005.
Bender, Thomas. A Nation among Nations: America’s Place in World
History. 2006.
Canizares-Esguerra, Jorge, and Seeman, Erik, eds. The Atlantic in Global
History, 1500-2000. 2006.
Tyrrell, Ian. Transnational Nation: United States History in Global
Perspective since 1789. 2007.
two historical transformations:
1. construction of an Atlantic world out of what preceded it
→ begin with pre-Columbian (before 1492 Columbus)
2. construction of colonization out of what preceded it
→ begin with pre-colonial (before 1607 Jamestown)
in each case for Europe, Africa, and Americas
historical transformation 1: construction of an “Atlantic world”
previous world system was centered on Indian Ocean -- China, India,
Arab lands, east African
13th century Mongols dominated landmass from China to eastern Europe
1348-1351 Black Death
1260 Mamluks of Egypt expelled Mongol invaders
1291 Mamluks of Egypt expelled European crusaders
1453 Ottomans of Turkey seized Constantinople
Europe was at margins, expelled, and encroached upon
origins of Atlantic world:
1402 Spain began conquest of Canary Islands in Atlantic Ocean
1415 Portugal captured Ceuta on coast of Morocco
1445 Portugal built first slave trading warehouse on Arguim island
off coast of Mauritania
origins of colonization:
1478 Spain began colonization of Canary Islands in Atlantic Ocean
origins of global world:
1519 Magellan circumnavigated globe
historical transformation 2: construction of colonization
previous mode was oceanic trade and naval intimidation, as pioneered
in 15th century by Portugal in Africa and in Asia
Europe: from marginal, → to aggressive
from long-distance trade
→ to long-distance conquest and colonization
key innovation of Spanish overseas empire in Americas was not trade,
but resource extraction
from Dutch competitive interloping (trade)
→ to English and French alternative colonization (resource extraction)
European colonial experiments on North America in 17th century:
1565 St. Augustine (Spain)
1607 Jamestown (England)
1608 Quebec (France)
1609 Santa Fe (Spain)
1614 New Amsterdam (Holland)
1620 Plymouth (England)
1638 New Sweden (Sweden)
dilemma of settler colonialism:
seeming abundance of land
but shortage of labor
solution: unfree labor and coerced migration
● servants
● slaves
● convicts
TABLE: Unfree and free migration to British North American coloines, 1607-1775
servants
slaves
convicts
unfree
free
1607-1699
96,600
33,200
2,300
132,100
66,300
1700-1775
103,600
278,400
52,200
434,200
151,600
TABLE: Unfreee and free migration to British North American coloines, 1607-1775
servants
slaves
convicts
unfree
free
1607-1699
49%
17%
1%
67%
33%
1700-1775
26%
47%
9%
74%
26%
Table: White and black “migration” to British North America, 1607-1775
1607-1699
English/Welsh
1700-1775
147,000
73,100
Irish
5,000
108,600
Scots
2,300
35,300
Dutch
6,250
-
French
2,400
-
German
1,000
84,500
Swedish
350
-
other
100
5,900
165,200
307,400
33,200
278,400
total whites
total enslaved blacks
TABLE: North American population east of Mississippi River, 1492-1775
Native Americans
1492
2,000,000
1700
1775
250,000
Europeans
Africans
0
0
234,000
31,000
1,184,000
467,000
from North American to Atlantic scale:
Atlantic slave trade, 1501-1866
Atlantic/hemispheric/global history
● catastrophic mortality of Native Americans
● catastrophic coerced migration and mortality of Africans
→ rejection of myth (and ideology) American exceptionalism
● “America” participated in larger global trends of labor migration, etc.
● “America” featured terrible violence on massive scale against Native
Americans and Africans
HOW DOES ONE TEACH THIS?
(both as American history and as something larger than American history)
warfare against Native Americans:
Pequot War, 1637
enslavement of Africans:
Plan of the British Slave Ship “Brookes” (1789)
Pequot War, 1637
plan of the British slave ship Brookes, 1789
Brown, Vincent. The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the
World of Atlantic Slavery. 2008.
“If people looked to the past to find the roots of contemporary
forms of inequality, domination, and terror, rather than the origins
of freedom, rights, and universal properity....” (p. 260)
● fundamental inversion of history (Vincent Brown’s approach)
● fundamental contradiction of history (my preference)
→ violence not alongside white “freedom” but enabling it
HOW DOES ONE TEACH THIS?