Prepare: Read

Benjamin, Thomas. The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

• Chapter 3: Conquests: Forging the Iberian Empires in Africa and the Americas.
• Chapter 4: Realms: The Overseas Empires of Spain and Portugal.

Fassnacht, Max, Stephanie Fink, Robert Jackson, and Michelle Warn. “The Anatomy of a Discussion Board (Links to an external site.).” Accessed February 15, 2016. https://sites.google.com/site/anatomyofadiscussionboard/home.

Fassnacht, Max, Stephanie Fink, Robert Jackson, and Michelle Warn. “Critical Thinking: A Guide to Skillful Reasoning (Links to an external site.).” Accessed August 15, 2016. http://www.criticalthinkingandreasoning.org/evaluating-critical-thinking-1.

Reflect:The establishment of Iberian empires in Africa and the Americas was the result of multiple processes, including, but not limited to, conquest, collaboration, cooptation, animosity, assistance, and alliance. In the different encounters between Europeans, Africans, and indigenous Americans, tactics and motivations varied widely, yet they were almost always conditioned by efforts to achieve advantage, as defined by each individual group. And while the Spanish and Portuguese established transatlantic empires in an effort to extend their home societies, their encounters with Africans and indigenous Americans meant that these new realms were the product of adaptation, whether by means of collaboration or resistance. Consult “Critical Thinking: A Guide to Skillful Reasoning (Links to an external site.)” as you formulate your response. 

Write: In an initial post of at least 250-300 words, explain the impact of cultural identity as it affected the ways that specific African or indigenous American societies interacted with either the Spanish or Portuguese, as these Europeans sought to establish transatlantic empires over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Cite specific examples from the required and recommended readings, and address at least two of following points as you compose your response:

• How would you characterize key elements or tactics used by the Spanish or Portuguese to establish empire? Motives? Results?
• How would you characterize key elements or tactics used by specific African or indigenous American societies to define, defend, or advance their own interests when interacting with the Spanish or Portuguese? Motives? Results?
• How did specific characteristics of each society coming into contact with each other shape their interactions?
• How did imperial rule attempt to extend European norms while simultaneously being forced to adapt to African or indigenous American norms?

In what ways did each group retain elements of its culture or experience changes in its culture over the course of encounter?