ENVS 354: Latin American Environmental History

Course Description

This class discusses a series of topics relevant to the environmental history of Latin America. Among these topics are the early population of the Americas and the development of sedentary habits. It also covers an analysis of the pre-Hispanic civilizations and their interaction with their landscape. The course also includes an analysis of the effects of the Spanish conquest and of the challenges created by the construction of the Atlantic Empires in early modern times. Health issues will be at the course of this analysis, in particular the yellow fever epidemics that ravaged the Caribbean basin between 1790 and the early twentieth-century. Cross-listed: ENV STDS 354/HISTORY 354. Prerequisites: Environmental Studies students: HISTORY 101 or 102. History students: Junior standing or any 100-level History course or instructor consent.