Week 1 — Doing History & Worlds Before 1607

Why this matters

A nursing student reading a medical chart and a business major checking where a report's figures came from both start the same way: who made this source, when, and why, and what does it leave out?

In plain language

This week is about how we know anything about the past, and about the first meetings between the peoples of the Americas and the peoples of Europe. History is the work of building a claim about the past from evidence, the way a detective builds a case from clues. You will learn to tell a primary source — something made at the time — from a secondary source — a later account that explains it. You will practice four habits for reading any source, then use them on three real documents from 1492 to 1494. The week ends with the Columbian Exchange — the great swap of plants, animals, people, and diseases that began after 1492.

• This week: sources, the four moves, the Americas before 1492, three documents from 1492 to 1494, contact and conquest, and the Columbian Exchange.
• How they connect: this is the foundation; every later week reads a dated document with these moves.
• Where we're going next: Week 2, Colonization & Empire.

Focus

How do historians know about the past, and what happened when the hemispheres met?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] sort a source as primary or secondary for a question
• [ ] source Columbus's letter and end in one plain sentence
• [ ] tell contact from conquest, and St. Augustine from Jamestown
• [ ] trace the Columbian Exchange in both directions

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 1 (~50–60 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
3. Work the practice set (15–25 minutes).
4. Do the Primary Source Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
5. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: source one document by who, when, type, and host, and say what it leaves out.

You've got this

Old documents are hard for everyone. Take it in order, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com