This module is designed to support you in embarking on advanced historical research, and it aims to help you develop the skills needed to complete your undergraduate dissertation. Through this module, you will be guided through the cognitive and analytical steps you will need to take to define your future dissertation topic, construct a detailed research proposal, conduct a reflexive feasibility study for your project, present your preliminary findings, and respond to feedback from academics in the department.

The module aims to guide you to design your research proposal, locate it in its relevant historiographical field, test its viability and scope of available sources, as well as produce outlines, detailed structures and bibliographies for your project. The module makes use of both standard and innovative forms of delivery, with a combination of lectures, online talks, drop-in consultation sessions, and one-to-one consultation sessions with potential supervisors and course convenors.

What our students say:

‘The lectures greatly helped me in understanding how I will accomplish the dissertation.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The guest speakers were particularly interesting and provided a lot of insight [...] which helped me understand how to use the archives themselves.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module aims to provide you with a solid introduction to the discipline of history at the beginning of your Part-II studies. The module, accordingly, explores the discipline at large, including: its characteristic practices, methods and traditions; its use of different source materials; and its relation not just to the past, but also to the present and the future.

The module includes three thematic blocks. The first section (Contexts of History) provides an overview of different types of historical scholarship, focusing on the methods, theories and intellectual tendencies that characterise them. The second section (Sources and Evidence) examines the use and application of different types of sources as evidence in historical research. The third section (History in Public) considers the public role and function of the discipline, as well as the challenges that historians have faced in the public spotlight, and, finally, the role that the study of history can play in your future.

What our students say:

‘I appreciated the perspective each lecturer brought on how history is written in their area of expertise. It was both fascinating and highly informative. The seminars were also very helpful and overall very good.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I liked the seminars, and I liked the range of sources we learned about.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module invites you to explore the history of an object that is of crucial importance to our ideas about both human health and human identity – the mind. A Global History of the Mind will give you the opportunity to explore how societies across a wide range of times and places have sought to understand, cure and control the mind. Drawing on materials and case studies from around the world, whether modern-day Polynesia or the medieval Middle East, this offers a truly global perspective on the history of the mind.

At the same time, the module encourages you to explore the connections between changing ideas about mental health and sickness to broader questions about human identity – most notably those concerning race, gender and the potential loss of human distinctiveness in a world where artificial intelligence is possible. Unlike traditional courses on mental health, which almost invariably focus on the emergence and spread of western psychiatry, this module offers a decentered perspective. We will examine the mind from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, bringing together philosophy, medicine, religion, race, gender, and social control. In so doing, we will explore questions of urgent relevance to our own society – most notably the ways in which ideas about the mind have featured in the racialization and gendering of people through systems of patriarchy and colonialism. In addition, this module will use case studies from history to give you the resources to consider and question modern ideas about the mind and its role in society.

As well as completing a traditional essay assignment, this module includes a group podcasting assignment. Working together with your classmates, you will develop the skills to put together your own podcast on the history of the mind.

What our students say:

‘The seminars were wonderful. We looked at some quite complicated ideas, but the lecturer led them in a way that enabled us to think for ourselves and come to our own understandings on the topics, without making us feel stupid for not getting things straight away.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I really enjoyed how the module looked at a lot of different periods/countries. It had a good range and was fascinating.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

20th-century British history is largely a story of change. The impact of democratisation, war, economic decline, the loss of empire, and internal fragmentation has resulted in a nation seemingly in constant flux, often unsure of its identity and its values.

In this module you will explore the patterns of social, economic, cultural and political change which have most affected the lives of the British since 1900. The overarching themes are the formation and reformation of identities based on class, gender, race, empire, nation, and the dual process by which the British were integrated into the state as citizens, and into the market as consumers. As well as being introduced to the key historiographical debates, in this module you will be encouraged to explore the subject through an eclectic mix of primary sources, including cartoons, posters, fiction, press reports, and advertisements.

What our students say:

‘The lectures were incredibly informative and helped me to understand core themes and historiography so I could go away to research it myself.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Material was presented to both support and disprove ideas we were covering and well fleshed out. These were also the most detailed and interesting lectures I had this term, focusing on a specific decade on each but never forgetting to cover broader trends of history. It also allowed us to use alternative primary sources like posters, fiction and news coverage from the period in depth and showed them to be just as valuable as textual sources.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

This module examines the social, cultural and political effects of one of the major upheavals of the 16th century: the Reformation. Focussing on the troubled course of the English Reformation from around 1517 until the end of the 16th century, the module explores how far the significant religious and political changes of the Tudor period were assimilated or resisted by the English population.

The module takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining textual, visual and musical sources to investigate when the English Reformation really took place, how successfully reformed thinking was disseminated among the people, and how political and religious changes affected people's day-to-day lives. It focuses in particular on popular politics and rebellion. It is taught through ‘creative learning’ methods as well as traditional seminar discussions.

What our students say:

‘Jenni really brought 16th century Britain to life. You can tell that she knows how to teach, not just drop a ton of information to her students, and this obviously is very helpful. The workshop activities were always well thought out and engaging. I really enjoyed the perspective she brought to us through ballads/music, and the experience of the lay-people in the early modern period. I also feel my ability to find primary sources, and analyse them was greatly improved through the workshops. I thoroughly enjoyed this module.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The workshops were valuable for actually understanding the content and developing skills to best use the learned knowledge. I really appreciated that we weren't just talking about what we read, but actually doing something with the knowledge. I also really enjoyed and appreciated the blog post assignment – it helped me to develop skills which were otherwise neglected so far in my university education. It was challenging to write in a way that was less formal, but also really valuable, especially considering that this is a skill probably needed in most careers! It was clear that there was real consideration given to how this module would help develop our academic abilities and wider transferable skills. Overall a really good module, in both how it was constructed and taught.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

What does it mean to die? Does it hurt? Is it frightening? Will I see those I love again? What does it mean to kill, whether an enemy, a friend, or myself? Death is a universal human experience, a cataclysm, triumph or adventure we all confront. But how we do that has varied vastly across history. In the European Middle Ages, the Church’s doctrines shaped ideas of death, from burial in the consecrated ground of churchyards to the theology of heaven, hell and purgatory. The living and the dead were a community: those on earth could speed the dead through their passage in the afterlife, and those in heaven could intercede for the living. Yet at the margins lay a shadowy world, in which the restless dead returned to haunt those left on earth, and the despairing took their lives in an act known as ‘self-murder’.

In this module, we explore varied experiences of death across the medieval centuries in the Christian West, from end-of-life care to execution, and from battlefields to the Black Death. We discover the different means of investigating death, from the chronicles that describe the walking dead, to the archaeology of burial practice, and from murder trials to palaeogenetics, unlocking the passage of disease. This is, by nature, a disturbing field of study. But what we learn cuts to the heart of what it means to be human – in the past and today.

History students at Lancaster University are offered the chance to take part in work placements in the heritage sector, with our partners ranging from prominent multi-site organisations, such as the National Trust, to small independent museums. We also work with local authority archives and heritage charities. All second-year History Students are eligible to apply for an accredited placement that counts towards your degree. Reasonable travel expenses are covered, and in some circumstances we can pay for overnight accommodation near the placement location. It is worth noting that voluntary placements in a wide variety of settings are organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences: you can undertake one of these in addition to your degree studies but it won’t be assessed, unlike the placements available through HIST299.

This module gives you the opportunity to find out what it is really like to work in a museum, archive, stately home or other heritage setting whilst developing your skillset and enhancing your employability. You will work on a project that will have a real impact in some aspect of the work of the heritage organisation, and gain a range of insights into the challenges faced by the sector.

Students who have completed this module have gone on to be accepted onto highly competitive postgraduate training in Museums Studies, Archival Studies and also teacher training. One student, who was placed with the National Trust at Sizergh Castle, said: “I recommend both HIST299 and this placement, particularly to students who want to get practical experience of using historical skills.”

By what means was Indian independence won from the British Empire in 1947? We will explore the modes of resistance that emerged from the Indian freedom struggle and in particular, the role and ideas of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi transformed the Indian National Congress, an organization that had been founded in 1885 as a loyal and moderate lobby, and created a mass movement that challenged the colonial state in extraordinary ways. British rule in India gradually lost credibility and struggled to find the means of maintaining control in the face of massive resistance to its right to govern India.

You will explore Gandhi’s philosophies of personal and political resistance to the injustices of the colonial state. You will also trace the emergence of religious politics in India during this period and the increasing pace of communal conflict, in particular Hindu-Muslim antagonism. What was the role of the colonial state in firing communal anxiety? Did Gandhi’s political ideas allay or encourage the conflation of political action and religious identity? The course ends with the partition of India, the largest migration in history and a process in which over one million people lost their lives, and the event that led, in 1948, to Gandhi’s assassination by a Hindu fundamentalist.

What our students say:

‘It was all just so interesting - would take it again if I could.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I really enjoyed the lectures which had so much useful content that you really felt like you knew the subject. The seminars were really useful too and could not have been any better. They were engaging and taught very well!’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The lectures were as always fantastic and really engaging.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

HIST215: Introduction to Latin Translation for Undergraduates

This is a special intensive course for students who have little or no previous knowledge of Latin. The course concentrates on the basics of Latin Grammar and vocabulary as used in the Medieval period. However, it will also be very useful for students of the Roman and Renaissance periods. By the end of the course, students should be able to read sources such as title deeds, court rolls, government records, wills, and inscriptions.

Of all intellectual and ideological concepts in the modern world, few are as contested and powerful as human rights. At their most influential, concerns for the protection of human rights have been used to justify international conflict and widespread military intervention in order to save the lives of thousands of people. Yet human rights critics argue that they are a form of cultural imperialism that limits the sovereignty of local populations. How has an ethical and moral concern for individual lives come to be so divisive? Why after years of supporting the establishment of international human rights law do many governments now pledge to scrap their own human rights acts?

This module will examine the history of human rights, putting their development into a broad historical context. It will chart the development of rights discourses from the pre-modern era through to the present, assessing the influence that the enlightenment, imperialism and war have had on their construction. It will offer students the opportunity to explore differing aspects of the history of human rights. Indicative topics include:

• Codifying and Quantifying Rights: 1776, 1789, 1948
• The Universality of Human Rights
• Human Rights and Humanitarianism, 1807-2001
• Decolonisation and Self-Determination, 1945-1991
• Gendered rights
• Capital punishment in the nineteenth and twentieth century
• Responding to Genocide: The Holocaust, Bangladesh, Srebrenica
• Amnesty International, 1961-2001
• Helsinki Watch/Human Rights Watch, 1975-2001

The social and cultural consequences of the Norman Conquest of England were deep and enduring. A foreign, Francophone regime displaced the native élites: many of the former rulers, women as well as men, fled the kingdom. Enlisting in the Varangian Guard, some English warriors even went as far as Byzantium and the Crimea. The new regime was inclusive as much as it was eager to recruit foreigners of all kinds — Frenchmen, Bretons, Lotharingians, Italians, Spaniards, and even Jews — so long as they were serviceable and loyal; but racist as much as it strove to deny persons of English descent access to high office. The English were denigrated as barbarians and peasants, but because the Conquest was not followed by sustained settlement from the Continent, many natives clung on in sub-altern positions, just below the foreigners who held the highest offices and the best estates. The English were also far from being the only victims: the regime also continued the later Anglo-Saxon state’s efforts to subjugate Wales and northern Britain.

As a wide-ranging introduction to the history of Norman England and the debates that it has inspired, this module allows you to consider the history and effects of this transformative event.

What our students say:

‘Paul is an amazing tutor who always provides relevant information and details’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I enjoyed learning about one of the most fateful events in British history since the Anglo-Saxon conquest and settlement of the Great British lowlands.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

Few country’s histories have been more tumultuous over the past two centuries than that of Germany. Dictatorships, revolutions, the launching of and defeat in two world wars, responsibility for war crimes and genocide on an unparalleled scale, foreign occupation and re-education, and political division for four decades have made German history, and the ways in which Germans have remembered it, contentious and of broad public concern. In few countries have visions of the nation's history been so varied and contested, and few peoples have created and faced such challenges when confronting their 'shattered' past.

This module will examine the reasons for the failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of National Socialism, the character of National Socialism, and the challenges its two successor states, the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, faced in their attempts to come to terms with their difficult and contentious pasts. We will do this by looking at Germans’ lived experiences: how did Germans deal with the different cataclysmic events they faced, and how did this impact their behavioural patterns?

What our students say:

‘The lecturer provided us with a great range of sources. Not only was the quantity really useful in providing greater insight into the different topics/events but it enabled us to see many different types of primary sources - for example, cartoons, films, photographs and written sources etc. The lectures were also great and I found the slides really useful as plenty of information was provided which will also be very helpful for exam revision. This has been one of my favourite modules whilst at Lancaster University and I would definitely recommend it.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Bastiaan himself is very interesting and pushes students to answer even when unsure, but with prompts. The most comfortable I have ever felt expressing my opinions and answering questions in a workshop. Very interesting course, lecturer and even coursework.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

In this module, you will explore the simultaneous rise of slavery and freedom in North America between 1620 and 1800. You will first examine the colonization of Massachusetts by Puritan migrants, and see how their liberty was constrained by gender relations, market dependency, and religious orthodoxy. Viewing the southern colonies in comparative perspective, you will explore the reasons why tobacco and rice planters transitioned from employing white indentured servants to enslaving Africans, and the racial codes that they developed to justify their decisions. You will understand how slave-holding American colonists could espouse discourses of liberty during the American Revolution, and the differing outcomes of the Revolution for Patriots, Loyalists, enslaved people, and Native Americans. You will conclude by studying the rapid expansion of slavery into the Deep South and the settlement of the trans-Appalachian frontier by free settlers after the Revolution. You will thus see how the United States—the “Empire of Liberty”—was forged in both slavery and freedom, creating a divided nation at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The module will allow you to study the Cold War in Europe, from its emergence in the immediate post-war period to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. You will be encouraged to question the rapid breakdown of the alliance between the victorious powers of the Second World War and how this could lead to the division of Europe into two blocs; to understand and put the role of the superpowers into perspective by studying also the role of medium and small European powers, and thereby show the room for manoeuvre that existed within the blocs; to analyse how the nuclearisation of the Cold War eventually led to a ‘long peace’ in Europe; and to assess how the East-West struggle was eventually overcome.

During the lectures and seminars, you will have the opportunity to engage with the vast and diverse historiography of the Cold War in Europe; study the conflict at the political, diplomatic, military, economic, and cultural levels; and focus on themes ranging from the origins of the East-West struggle in Europe to the challenges to authority in the Eastern bloc and the end of the Cold War.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer was an engaging interesting lecturer who managed to condense the Cold War into ten weeks. He was also incredibly helpful when it came to the essay, suggesting books to read and even lending me one of his when I found that it was out of print. He would often also go on tangents which ended up being a good thing as they were always high informative and often helped add a bit of depth to the subject.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘Focusing on the European aspect of cold war history as too often there is a focus on solely the US, and adding different countries definitely diversified this topic and made it more enjoyable.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

In your third year you will study at one of our approved international partner universities. This will help you to develop your global outlook, expand your professional network, and gain cultural and personal skills. It is also an opportunity to gain a different perspective on your major subject through studying the subject in another country.

You will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and also have the opportunity to study modules from other subjects offered by the host university.

Places at overseas partners vary each year and have previously included universities in Australia, USA, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Asia.

The Dissertation is a module that progresses from the methodological understandings acquired in Second-Year courses.

You will write a 10,000-word dissertation exploring a challenging historical problem. While, in many cases, we expect that the topic chosen will arise from courses you are studying, it should also be possible to accommodate topics which do not have a direct bearing on your taught courses. The aim is to give you the opportunity to work in depth on a topic of your choice, and to gain the satisfaction of working independently and of making a subject your own. Research for dissertations will usually combine work on secondary literature with the use of primary sources (in translation where necessary). You are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the wider historical context of the subject being explored by including a critical review of relevant published work and to show an awareness of the limitations of primary sources used.

The traditional historiography of the Cold War focused predominantly on the United States and the Soviet Union, and the European theatre of the conflict. This module, in contrast, offers you a different, less Western-centric view of the Cold War. You will study the impact of the East-West struggle in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, and how the course of the Cold War was affected by conflicts in the Global South. Thereby, you will learn that the Global Cold War was not only dominated by the two superpowers, but was also heavily influenced by Third World actors and lesser Cold War powers such as the People’s Republic of China.

The study of the Global Cold War is currently the most dynamic field in Cold War History and, probably, even in International History more generally. As a result, you will be able to engage with a vast body of international literature, and have the opportunity to carry out primary sources-based research. This is rendered possible by the availability of specific Cold War History document collections, national collections of diplomatic documents, as well as digital archives and document collections.

This module explores the origins of modern consumer society in Britain, introducing you to an exciting and innovative field of historical research. In the hundred years from the abolition of advertising tax in 1853 to the birth of commercial television in the 1950s, advertising became an omnipresent feature of modern capitalism. In this module, you will explore the causes and consequences of this process of commercialisation using a range of primary sources, from press reports and cartoons, to business archives, social surveys, and, of course, the advertisements themselves.

You will explore the changing relationship between people and their possessions, the impact of new shopping environments like the department store and the supermarket, and the rise of ethical consumerism. Advertising is political, and you will also examine how it helped Britain win two world wars and market the Empire to its own people. You will learn how advertisements work by designing your own advertising campaign in a particular historical context. By the end of the module, you will understand how advertising sells us much more than simply clothes or food, how it shapes the way we view gender and race, and how it creates support for a market economy based on the principles of freedom and choice.

What our students say:

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the module! My favourite aspects were to do with the psychology of advertising and how this impacted gender roles.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I really enjoyed the variety that this module offers. Every week was a new topic and a new way to analyse different perspectives from the module period.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘I think the range of coursework styles for this module were really fun to complete.’ (Anonymous student evaluation)

Soviet history is often told through the prism of totalitarian oppression, but beneath layers of state control a vibrant dissident movement was active. Whilst they were far from an homogenous group, their presence and sustained activism in the later decades of Soviet history raises broader questions about the communist superpower. What influence could political dissidents have on the world around them? How did they exert influence in a regime that wanted them silenced? What role did they, or could they play in the Cold War?

In this module, you will explore the breadth, depth, and complexity of the Soviet dissident movement and analyse the impact that they had on the wider world. You will explore the nature of political life in the Soviet Union, ranging from the punishment of the labour camp system under Joseph Stalin, the use and abuse of psychiatry under Nikita Khrushchev, and the silencing of the shestidesiatniki under Leonid Brezhnev. This module will also consider the role dissidents played in the collapse of the Soviet regime under Mikhail Gorbachev, and the contemporary parallels with dissidents such as Anna Politkovskaya and Pussy Riot in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. By focusing on the domestic enemies of the Soviet state, this module will allow you to explore in detail how totalitarian governments function, what activists and intellectuals can do to change this, and the role played by the international community in supporting these dissidents. Alongside this, it will address broader issues such as political dissent, human rights and international relations amongst others.

Indicative topics include:

• Samizdat, Natalya Gorbanevskaya and the Chronicle of Current Events
• Psikhushki and psychiatric abuse
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the ‘Slavophiles’
• Andrei Sakharov and the ‘Westernisers’
• Vladimir Bukovsky and the ‘non-conformists’
• The KGB and state intimidation
• The Refuseniks and Soviet Jewry movements
• Religious Persecution and Keston College
• The Helsinki Accords and the move towards human rights
• Amnesty International and the Soviet Union
• Pussy Riot and Pyotr Pavlensky

The 13th century began with a rebellion that sought to cast a tyrant from the throne of England, followed after fifty years by a revolution, in which a party of barons and bishops backed by a vast popular following seized power from the king and set up a council to govern in his stead: a move that was utterly radical. This period has been hailed as the foundation of the enlightened democracy we enjoy today – but the reality is far darker. This was a world in which religious leaders had the power to punish kings, where rebels fought as sworn crusaders, and where people willingly went to their deaths for a political cause believing themselves martyrs. This world was not democratic, but theocratic.

In this module you will explore the major events of the period, in England and across Christendom; from the making of Magna Carta and the Fourth Lateran Council, to the Albigensian Crusade, the seizure of power in 1258, and the bloody Battle of Evesham that brought the end of England's First Revolution. You will meet the people who shaped this world – from powerful queens like Blanche of Castile and Eleanor of Provence, to leading knight William Marshal and the masterful pope Innocent III; from tyrannical and hapless kings to the churchmen who defied them and were recognised as saints; and from Simon de Montfort, the revolution's charismatic and brutal leader, to the low-born men and women who flocked to his banner. You will be able to uncover their stories through their letters, testimonies, and eye-witness accounts, and a wealth of other primary sources.

Through a range of topics, you will be able to explore your particular interests – whether in the political, religious, military, gender or social aspects of this period – and consider the big questions arising from this module: what can move women and men, poor and rich, to risk their livelihoods, to take life and give their own to decide who ruled the realm?

What our students say:

'Teaching is excellent and the seminars were a great opportunity to discuss our own ideas and talk things through with an expert in the field. The seminars were something I looked forward to every week and we had the opportunity to explore many of the primary source material for ourselves.' (Anonymous student evaluation)

'Many parts [were the most valuable] – from the development of a close-knit group, to the challenging yet interesting assessment work, to the feeling of really ‘mastering’ the subject.' (Anonymous student evaluation)

The labelling of the Second World War as the People’s War in Britain draws attention to the importance of the men and women who waged it. With the blurring of the Home and Battle Fronts, the conventional gender contract in which men fight to protect the vulnerable at home and women keep the home fires burning was challenged, not least by the revolutionary act of conscripting women to the war effort.

In this module you will examine how the Second World War was experienced by a wide spectrum of British men and women, some of whom identified with the war effort, some of whom were deliberately excluded, or chose to challenge gender conventions in their choice of role. You’ll consider different categorisations of experience (military/civilian; home front/battle front; male/female) and explore whether there was a hierarchy of service and subsequently of remembrance.

Were gender roles in Britain really transformed by the exigencies of war? Through a wide range of written and visual sources, including autobiographical materials, poems, photographs, films, parliamentary minutes, newspapers, posters and cartoons, we will seek to understand individual and collective experiences of the war, and their gendered dimensions.

What our students say:

‘The lecturer for the module has been incredible. He has made each seminar interesting and engaging, and a genuinely enjoyable experience each week. Also, the lecturer’s feedback in class and on assignments has been both constructive and encouraging, and it is thanks to him that I have seen a huge improvement in my work throughout the year’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘This is by far my favourite module I have done during my time at Lancaster, the content was engaging and the module was very well structured. The lecturer’s enthusiasm for his subject made each lesson exciting and especially informative. We were given excellent guidance for each assessment and consistently encouraged to think independently and imaginatively about each topic’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

Today the claim that God designed everything in the universe has given way to the theory of evolution. The usual story of this change is one of conflict between science and religion. This module, however, will challenge the popular narrative.

Focusing on the period 1450 –1800, we will reconsider the rise and fall of the idea that nature was the work of a divine intelligent designer. As well as trying to understand why the design argument became so important in the early modern period, we will seek to understand why it fell out of favour during the 18th century – long before the theory of evolution.

But we will not simply be studying the history of ideas. To understand the role of design in early modern science, we will study a wide range of disciplines and practices – from intellectual disciplines like philosophy, rhetoric and theology, to material practices including chemistry, architectural design, archaeology and art.

What our students say:

‘The course structure, teaching and seminars were the most engaging and useful I’ve had over my three years at university’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

‘The engaging and interactive seminars allowed for a comfortable environment which made the subject more interesting and enjoyable’. (Anonymous student evaluation)

When Europeans first landed in Jamaica, they thought that they had arrived in paradise: a sun-kissed tropical island covered with virgin rainforests, dramatic mountains, and exotic flora and fauna. By the early nineteenth century, colonization had fundamentally transformed this supposedly pristine island. This module explores how this process occurred. You will study the numerous ways that colonists exploited the Jamaican environment: the clear-cutting of forests to make way for monoculture plantations; the importation of plants and animals to replace decimated native species; and the extraction and exhaustion of natural resources. You will simultaneously examine enslaved Africans' and Native Americans' environmental perspectives and see how both groups used Jamaica’s mountains and surviving forests to resist the violent process of colonization. We will conclude by examining the colonists’ growing awareness that they had transformed Jamaica’s climate and natural world, just as the island’s economy was fundamentally changed through emancipation. You will thus emerge from this module with a detailed understanding of the natural history of Jamaica—one of the most fascinating places in the Early Modern Atlantic World—and the exciting field of environmental history more broadly.