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78283-01 - Seminar: Piracy, Slavery, and Yellow Fever: The Caribbean as a Crucible of Early Modern Empire (1492–1886) (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Javier Francisco Vallejo (javier.franciscovallejo@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The Caribbean was not only the first American region to be transformed by European expansion; it quickly became the most fiercely contested maritime arena of Early Modern empire. Indigenous societies and colonists alike found themselves drawn into a geopolitical power struggle characterized by imperial ambitions, aggressively expanding commodity frontiers, black uprisings and autonomous communities (maroons), as well as semi-sanctioned looting and pillaging privateers. In this dense island world, ecological destruction and transformation, demographic collapse, voluntary and coerced migration, socio-ethnic hybridization, and new forms of capitalist extraction unfolded with an intensity rarely paralleled in global history. This course traces these entangled processes across several centuries, examining the shifting stages of European rule and the profound transformations they generated. How did encounters between newcomers and Indigenous peoples—including the Taíno, Kalinago, and Lucayan—reshape the social and political landscape? Why were millions of enslaved Africans transported into the region, and what openings for resistance, advancement, and community-building did they carve out under extreme constraints? To what extent did European powers pursue distinct imperial strategies, and how were these differences encoded in law, governance, and economic organization? We will also explore the emergence of alternative and contested spaces—from pirate enclaves to Indigenous refuges and maroon settlements—and consider how they challenged metropolitan and colonial authority. Finally, the course links the Caribbean’s Early Modern history to broader human–environment dynamics: climate change, biodiversity loss, zoonotic disease cycles, and the ecological footprint of plantation capitalism. In doing so, we approach the Caribbean as a laboratory of empire—an Early Modern world region where global processes became tangible, accelerated, and, in many ways, irreversible. |
| Bibliography | McNeil, John. Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914: 2010. Latimer, Jon. Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire: 2009. Moya Pons, Frank. History of the Caribbean: plantations, trade, and war in the Atlantic world: 2007. Palmié, Stephan (ed.). Slave Cultures and the Culture of Slavery: 1995. Williams, Eric. From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969: 1984. |
| Comments | max. 30 students There will be Reader and reading assignments in advance. |
| Weblink | Europainstitut |
| Admission requirements | As this is a block seminar, attendance at all sessions is mandatory. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| unregelmässig | See individual dates | ||
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 06.03.2026 | 10.00-17.00 | Riehenstrasse 154, Seminarraum 00.022 |
| Friday 13.03.2026 | 10.00-17.00 | Riehenstrasse 154, Seminarraum 00.022 |
| Friday 27.03.2026 | 10.00-17.00 | Riehenstrasse 154, Seminarraum 00.022 |
| Friday 10.04.2026 | 10.00-17.00 | Riehenstrasse 154, Seminarraum 00.022 |
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Europa Global (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Frühe Neuzeit (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Kulturtechnische Dimensionen (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques) Modul: Mittelalter / Frühe Neuzeit (Master's degree subject: History) Modul: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree subject: History) Module: Europeanization and Globalization (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Qualifications: oral presentations (to be discussed) and diverse written assignments e.g. literature reviews, source interpretations, argumentative essays. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | University of Basel |
| Offered by | Europainstitut |