“Colonial Peoples in an Atlantic World”

Konstantin DierksHistory DepartmentIndiana 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

● 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 Europeversus 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 invaders1291 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 1700-1775

English/Welsh 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

total whites 165,200 307,400

total enslaved blacks 33,200 278,400

TABLE: North American population east of Mississippi River, 1492-1775

Native Americans Europeans Africans

1492 2,000,000 0 0

1700 234,000 31,000

1775 250,000 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?