94324 - Mediterranean and Atlantic in the Early Modern Age

Learning outcomes

The course aims to reconstruct the historical-political but also economic-social evolution of the Mediterranean and Atlantic areas in the declining phase of the first and ascending of the second. The teaching focuses on the emergence of new multi-ethnic communities in the aftermath of the great geographical discoveries and on the intertwining between migration and movement of human beings, goods and capital. At the end of the course the student is able to interpret the fundamental historical junction of ocean discoveries and to know the complexity and heterogeneity interconnected between the Mediterranean area and the nascent Atlantic area between the late fifteenth century and the early eighteenth. The space of the modern will thus take on an original declination, centered on the interpenetration between the so-called "old" and the so-called "new" world.

Course contents

On this side and beyond of the columns of Hercules in the ancient regime

The course aims to deepen the historical reflection on the dynamics that characterized the centuries of the modern age in the "liquid continents" of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Through the use of published and unpublished sources and essential bibliographic tools, both paper and online, will be analyzed the routes and journeys that, between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, unfolded between Europe, Africa and America.The identity and constitutive features of the geo-historical space of the modern Mediterranean will be related to the Atlantic in the continuous evolution of the world-system.

The historical rhythm of a multiple Mediterranean, the scene of violent struggles between remote antagonistic civilizations, but also a profitable crossing of maritime routes and commercial relations, where men are used to living collective lives, to to meet and clash between unity and diversity, between understanding and intolerance, is intertwined with that of a composite Atlantic, a new frontier marked, in particular, by the daring discovery, the slave and triangular trade.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

To know more, in addition to the lecture notes, choose between the following texts:

- G. Nemeth Papo, A. Papo, I turchi nell'Europa centrale. Da Gallipoli a Passarowitz (secc. XIV-XVIII), Roma, Carocci, 2022;

- A. De Francesco, Repubbliche atlantiche. Una storia globale delle pratiche rivoluzionarie (1776-1804), Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2022;

- D. Salomoni, Magellano. Il primo viaggio intorno al mondo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2022;

- T. Green, Per un pugno di conchiglie. L'Africa occidentale dall'inizio della tratta degli schiavi all'Età delle rivoluzioni, Torino, Einaudi, 2021;

- A. Michel, Il bianco e il negro. Indagine storica sull'ordine razzista, Torino, Einaudi, 2021;

- M. Giuli, L'opulenza del Brasile coloniale. Storia di un trattato di economia e del gesuita Antonil, Roma, Carocci, 2021;

- L. Benedetti - E. Musacchio, Da Venezia al Cairo. Il viaggio di Zaccaria Pagani nel primo Cinquecento, Padova, Il Poligrafo, 2021;

- A. Mikhail, L'ombra di Dio. Selim il sultano, il suo Impero ottomano e la creazione del mondo moderno, Torino, Einaudi, 2021;

- N. Malcolm, Utili nemici. Islam e Impero ottomano nel pensiero politico occidentale 1450-1750, Milano, Hoepli, 2020;

- R. Blackburn, Il crogiolo americano. Schiavitù, emancipazione e diritti umani, Torino, Einaudi, 2020;

- S. Bono, Guerre corsare nel Mediterraneo. Una storia di incursioni, arrembaggi, razzie, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019

- F. Bethencourt, Razzismi. Dalle crociate al XX secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019

- E. Ivetic, Storia dell'Adriatico. Un mare e la sua civiltà, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019

- S. Bono, Schiavi. Una storia mediterranea (XVI-XIX), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016

- Mediterraneo e Atlantico: un patrimonio connesso tra età moderna e contemporanea, a cura di N. Marini D'Armenia, Napoli, Guida, 2016

- F. Morelli, Il mondo atlantico. Una storia senza confini (secoli XV-XIX), Roma, Carocci, 2013.

 

For the specific study of the course:

• S. Negruzzo, Europa 1655. Memorie dalla corte di Francia, Milano, Cisalpino, 2015.

 

For students attending

In addition to the notes of the lessons and the materials kept in Virtual, the preparation will focus on one of the readings reported in the list plus the in-depth one.

 

For students not attending

In addition to in-depth reading, the interview will focus on two other texts agreed personally, well in advance, with the teacher.  

 

For all students it is also necessary to use a historical atlas (for instance: Atlante storico. Cronologia della storia universale, Milan, Garzanti, 2003).

 

Teaching methods

Lessons and seminar activities in hybrid mode (presence and online).

Of the 30 hours of the course, 10 will be carried out according to innovative teaching. In this way, the lessons organised according to classical frontal teaching will alternate with those set in a hybrid form (blended) structured on the analysis of primary sources (documentary and iconographic) and digital / multimedia supports connected to the theme addressed in the week.

Teams and Virtual platforms are expected to be used to share, process and store the materials examined.

Assessment methods

For students attending, the examination will consist of an oral interview where the student, starting from one of the sources presented during the lessons, will be invited to articulate his speech, taking into account the topics covered and the bibliographic readings chosen.

During the examination will be evaluated in-depth knowledge of the issues dealt with in each of the essential texts for the completeness of the program; the ability to recognize, in every text, the sources used and historiographical reconstruction; the expressive mastery and use of a specific language. The lack of knowledge of one of the two texts in the program will cause a negative rating.

Gaps in knowledge of the texts in the program, poor ability to recognize sources and historiographical reconstruction, very inappropriate language will involve an assessment of not more than sufficiency.

Knowledge mostly mechanical and / or mnemonics, capacity of synthesis and analysis limited, proper language, but not always appropriate, provide for a fair rating.

Full knowledge of the texts, good capacity of synthesis and analysis, fully valid and appropriate language will allow a good to excellent.

For non-attending students, the examination will consist of an oral interview with exclusive reference to the recommended bibliography (three books).

 

Information about the dates of the calls and how to apply the examination will be regularly published on the web page teachers: http://www.unibo.it/docenti/simona.negruzzo.

 

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations

Office hours

See the website of Simona Negruzzo