Chapters 1 and 2 from The Americas Readings

   It is amazing to consider and study the original concept of the Americas from the perspective of the Old World and try to imagine how people of the early sixteenth century envisioned this unseen but intriguing and almost unimaginable New World. Imagining first and then slowly realizing that this New World was a vast, rich continent must have been quite overwhelming and exciting. From speculation about Antipodes, to the recorded explorations of Vespucci and Columbus, the cosmographers and great intellectuals all contributed to what became our common hemispheric beginnings. It is also the foundation of our own common beginnings as a part of The Americas and then as a part of the Greater World. Understanding our common beginnings and tracing the development of our nationalism seems essential to beginning to better understand ourselves and then our integrated human experience with others. This class offers the opportunity to more deeply understand and consider how we have first come together and then apart, often quite painfully and at great human expense.