Conquest of the Americas

By: Marshall C. Eakin, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Marshall C. Eakin

Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Was Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492 the most important event in the history of the world?

Professor Eakin's provocative answer is a resounding "Yes" - as he presents his case in an intriguing series of 24 lectures. He argues that the voyage gave birth to the distinct identity of the Americas today by creating a collision between three distinct cultures - European, African, and Native American - that radically transformed the view of the world on both sides of the Atlantic. These thoughtful lectures will remind you that when Columbus completed his voyage, he found a people unlike any he had ever known, living in a land unmentioned in any of the great touchstones of Western knowledge. You'll learn how the European world, animated by the great dynamic forces of the day, Christianity and commercial capitalism, reacted to Columbus's discovery with voyages of conquest-territorial, cultural, and spiritual - throughout the New World. And you'll see the traumatic consequences - not only for the native peoples of the Americas, but for the people of Africa, as well, millions of whom had their lives altered by the transatlantic slave trade that resulted. Yet these lectures are far more than an account of heroes and villains, or victors and victims. They form a dramatic, sweeping tale of the complex blending of three peoples into one-forming new societies and cultures that were neither European, African, nor Native American, but uniquely American. While Professor Eakin readily identifies his own interpretation of events, he generously showcases competing views, and you'll benefit enormously from the many works he cites for further study.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2002 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2002 The Great Courses

FANTASTIC

This 500 year narrative was so enriching to the mind and soul . To hear the true history of where we all came from and how we became and what we are today is amazing. The lecturer had a wealth of information and delivered so eloquently. Thank you.

This is actually Owen Wilson lecturing (wedding crashers)

Good lectures and flow. The guy is a great story teller, which obviously helps. The only parts I took issue with were his own contradictory views of Christianity. First he states Christianity is, at its core, a militant conquering religion. Then he shows that all the great humanitarian efforts toward the Indians were driven by hardcore Christian monks and priest who hated Spanish treatment of the Indians. Was Also was pretty light on all the brutal treatment of Indians to there own. Slavery, human sacrifice and a rigid caste system we’re all in full force before European contact. Not to mention a virtual absence of material development for the common Indian, Which he does a good job showing. The tone is just very anti-European, which isn’t surprising. Just wish we could acknowledge the obvious benefits of western culture. The whole disease narrative is not the fault of the West anymore than the bubonic plague is the fault of trading with African and Arab merchants. But again, great series and worth listening too.

Great references to further reading.

A superb course with many pointers on the major scholars and frameworks that can be found within this historical field. I now have a huge reading list of titles he mentions throughout (including his own work on Brazil). The author has an excellent grasp of the peoples and experiences right across North, South and Central America. Really, really engaging and interesting.

Good account, with problems 4.5

good account, although there are some problems from someone who loves and studies a lot of history. The geopolitical world of europe and its contributions to interactions in the americas is not a forte of the author, its not necessarily the focus of this text, i was fortunate of having listened to another great courses text on the renaissance, reformation, and rise of nations that went into extreme detail on the subject, i would recommend that course be supplemented with this book for optimal experience, the book is pretty much word for word as typed. Additionally, although the author does highlight specific and important differences between latin america and english america, towards the end of the book, perhaps becomes a little sloppy keeping those differences clear. I also distinctly wish there was more differentiation between different regions of latin america in the authors sweeping generalizations around degree of spanish vs spanish indian black cultural genetic mixing, which differ greatly upon the region. although the author does indeed clarify this in one single sentence. The author clearly presents his favorite or closest to his heart region being brazil, however, many times when he speaks generally, it sounds like he is referring specifically to brazil. The problem with this is of course, brazil is more heavily mixed generally than other major places of latin america. i also take issue to the author speaking of latin america as superficially European, although there are places/regions that are mildly european, latin america is extremely European, especially in all of its major hubs, its not superficially anything, its squarely european, AND its also has other influences, and populations that are mixed with other influences. I felt the end of the book tried glossing over/buttering up the European impact to fit the moralistic questions that are more bold in current times, that ironically grew out of this time period by the people engaging in the actives/subject of this time period, culminating in the enlightenment. thats like trying to burn the books of a great author because such author wrote about problems in those very same books! xD. All in all a good book, 4.5, only slight issues,

Great History but Should've Been Longer

Professor Eakin's strong suit is the clear, straight forward, to the point, and easy to understand/follow presentation of historical narrative. He provides a great review of the history of the Americas from Aprx. 1500-1700 focusing on how Europeans (Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch), Native Americans, and Africans collided to form an American people.

He was also great with providing background information (for example he didn’t just start the story right at 1500 but instead started with a history of the origins of the major players such as how Portugal and Spain became nation-states, how Native Americans migrated to the Americas 40,000 years ago, and African kingdoms before 1500). Professor Harl is also good at this. This critical component is missing from other courses.

Top lectures for me include 5 (origins of European journeys into the Atlantic), 11 (Spanish ventures beyond their core American lands in the 1500s), and 21 (Dutch entry into the Americas and the resulting battles between European powers for the Caribbean).

There are two areas where I think this course struggles. One: the lectures on life in the Americas during this time period (and the ones discussing sociology) fall short. They didn't seem to provide a lot of new information or didn't fully paint a more detailed, deeper dive into everyday life than what the average listener would already know. I can't say I stepped away with a better understanding of what it was like to be a Native American during this time (or a Spanish Conquistador for that matter) than I did going in. Due to this and to the professor's strength in providing historical narrative it felt like these lectures could have been re-purposed to focus on more details of the historical events.

Hand in hand with this criticism is my second area of shortcoming: this course felt too short. While the professor hit on all of the main points (an accomplishment he should be commended on considering a lot of other professors don't), the course would’ve been much richer if it had more time to get into greater detail on historical events. It didn't help that in a course of precious little time, the first lecture was just an overview on how the course would be organized.

An example of this is Lecture 21 which touched on the interesting topic of all of the European powers (Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and English) warring over possessions in the Caribbean and main land in the 1600's. However, the details of these wars were sparse (the Dutch losing New Amsterdam to the English was barely mentioned). This course seemed to beg for more lectures. It is a shame it doesn't have them since I would've liked to listen to the professor on a deeper take on the history.

All in all this is a course I would enthusiastically recommend to anyone interested in the region, time period, or history in general. It does tell the story (even if some of us are left starving for more detail or focus). It is time and money well spent.

What an amazing lecture

The structure and depth of this lecture is hands down one of the best. If I had any criticism it would be I would have liked a little more attention paid to Ango and Franco America with respect to Latin America. The last three chapters leave something to be desired, but overall this is a masterpiece!

Conquest of the Americas review.

Excellent presentation of materials and easy to Liston and track. This is easy to recommend. No doubt you’ll enjoy this in every respect.

Excellent

Highly recommend this course and Professor Eakin’s other series on revolution in the Americas. I’ve done 20+ history courses on audible and his are definitely among the best.

The material is dense and detailed but fascinating, and he spends a lot of time placing events in their broader (European) historical context. These courses really changed my perspective on early US history - something I thought I understood well!

Tremendous Presentation

Professor Eakin crafts clear, entertaining informative lectures. The optimal amount of detail for a comprehensive survey course.

Great presentation of an interesting topic

Any additional comments?

This course is great as it covers topics relating to both South and North America. It was great understanding the connections the lectures made between the indigenous people and the European people upon first contact and how those relations evolved into the people/races/countries we know now. I would recommend the other lecture series "Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed" as a companion to this course.