HIS 206 Social Studies Economics II

(Cross listed with POS 206) This course examines the impact of the Atlantic Economy, the premier global system of exchange and production from the 15th through the mid-19th centuries, on the African diaspora. Students will explore the role of joint-stock companies in Africa as they organized European investment in the trans-Atlantic trade and the role of the nation-states in defining property rights in human capital. Students will investigate how imperial decisions to establish mercantlist trade affected individuals, migration, social relations, patterns of wealth accumulation. Finally, students will analyze the technological advancements that gave rise to the Cotton Kingdom and how the pushing system as a form of plantation labor management fueled American economic developmeent. The course will culiminate with the expansion of the domestic slave trade and sharecropping that led to the reproductive exploitation of African women and their children. Students will be assessed on their ability to display historical content and economic concepts, to interpret and analyze primary and secondary documents, and to synthesize a collection of sources to create evidence-based historical arguements. (L03)