Outline

Overview

The encounter between Indigenous societies and European colonisers is the most defining moment in the history of the Americas. Therefore, this unit explores the social, political, cultural, and economic processes that took place in the region under Iberian imperial rule, that is, from the arrival of Portuguese and Spanish colonists in the late fifteenth century until the beginning of the revolutions against European control in the late eighteenth century. These three centuries of confrontations and transformations shaped, in many ways, the culture and identity of Latin American societies.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	History
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in History
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Roberto Chauca Tapia, roberto.chauca@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Roberto Chauca Tapia, roberto.chauca@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Short release assignment	Take home essay Take home essay	30%	Formal exam period Due date: 16 Nov 2023 at 23:59	1.5 hour / equivalent 1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Tutorial particpation Tutorial particpation	10%	Please select a valid week from the list below	Tutorial particpation
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Primary source assessment 1x1500wd primary source assessment.	30%	Week 05 Due date: 01 Sep 2023 at 23:59	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research paper Research paper 30%	30%	Week 09 Due date: 06 Oct 2023 at 23:59	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Written assessment on working with primary sources.
Submit a research paper based on research undertaken in response to an essay question.
Attend all lectures and tutorials.
Demonstrate engagement with the weekly assigned readings by participating in tutorial discussions.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Distinction	75 - 84	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Credit	65 - 74	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Pass	50 - 64	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a 5% penalty for each late day.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction to ‘Colonisation in the Americas’: The Indigenous-Iberian Connection and a Conflicted Identity.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	The Early Settlement of the Americas and the Maya Civilisation	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Political Relations in Early Maya Kingdoms. Tutorial reading: Francisco Estrada-Belli and Alexandre Tokovinine, ‘Chochkitam: A New Classic Maya Dinasty and the Rise of the Kaanu’l (Snake) Kingdom’. Latin American Antiquity 33:4 (2022): 713-732.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	The Aztec and the Inca Empires.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	Trophy Heads and the Inca Display of Power. Tutorial reading: Francisco Garrido and Catalina Morales, ‘Displays of Violence and Power at the Edge of the Empire: Provincial Trophy Heads during Inca Times’. Latin American Antiquity 30:3 (2019): 606-623.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	The Age of Discoveries and the Conquest of America.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Nahua/Mexica Perspectives on Spanish Culture. Tutorial reading: James Lockhart. ‘Sightings: Initial Nahua Reactions to Spanish Culture’. In: Implicit Understandings: Observing, Reporting, and Reflecting on the Encounters Between Europeans and Other Peoples in the Early Modern Era. Edited by Stuart B. Schwartz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. 218-248.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	The Portuguese Colonisation of Brazil.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Depicting Cannibalism in Early Modern Brazil. Tutorial reading: Neil L. Whitehead. ‘Hans Staden and Cultural Politics of Cannibalism’. Hispanic American Historical Review 80:4 (2000): 721- 752.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	The Amazon River and the Occupation of the American Tropics.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Mapping the Early Modern Amazon River. Tutorial reading: Camila Dias, ‘Jesuits Maps and Political Discourse: The Amazon River of Father Samuel Fritz’. The Americas 69:1 (2012): 95-116.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Political and Economic Structures of Colonisation in the Americas.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Crafting Local Administration from Islamic Spain to the Andes. Tutorial reading: Karen B. Graubart. ‘Learning from the Qadi: The Jurisdiction of Local Rule in the Early Colonial Andes’. Hispanic American Historical Review 95:2 (2015): 195-228.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	The Religious and Social Life in the Early Modern Americas	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Intersex People and the Mexican Inquisition. Tutorial reading: María Elena Martínez. ‘Sex and the Colonial Archive: The Case of “Mariano” Aguilera’. Hispanic American Historical Review 96:3 (2016): 421-443.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	Research Paper Consultations.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	No lectures or tutorials this week. Instead, students are required to book in a consultation time with your lecturer to discuss your research paper, which is due by Friday of this week. This will fulfill the attendance for the week.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	Science and Knowledge in the Americas.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Travel, Dispossession and the Critique of Colonialism. Tutorial reading: Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, ‘Postcolonialism avant la lettre?: Travelers and Clerics in Eighteenth-Century Spanish America’. In: After Spanish Rule: Postcolonial Predicaments of the Americas. Edited by Mark Thurner and Andrés Guerrero. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. Pp. 89- 110.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	The Bourbon and Pombaline Reforms in the 18th-Century Americas.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Natural Disasters and the Reshape of Early Modern Cities. Tutorial reading: Charles F. Walker. ‘The Upper Classes and their Upper Stories: Architecture and the Aftermath of the Lima Earthquake of 1746’. Hispanic American Historical Review 83:1 (2003): 53-82.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	The Revolt of the Masses Against Iberian Rule.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	Globalising the History of Indigenous American Revolutions. Tutorial reading: Sinclair Thomson. ‘Sovereignty Disavowed: the Tupac Amaru Revolution in the Atlantic World’. Atlantic Studies 13:3 (2016): 407- 431.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Creole Identities and the Gradual Emancipation of the Americas.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Creole Americans and the Origins of Modern Nationalism. Tutorial reading: Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. (Chapter 4: ‘Creole Pioneers’.) Revised edition. London: Verso, 2006. Pp. 47-65.	Tutorial (1 hr)

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. LO1: Develop a solid understanding of the confrontations and negotiations taking place between American natives and Iberian colonists from 1492 to 1780
LO2. LO2: Identify the social, political, cultural, and economic transformations that shaped Spanish and Portuguese American societies in early modern times.
LO3. LO3: Explain the formation of Latin American identities and cultures in relation to the process of European colonisation in the region.
LO4. LO4: Analyse and critically interpret primary and secondary sources to better understand the early modern history of Latin America.
LO5. LO5: Organise bibliographic materials and consolidate oral and written communication skills.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This unit is being offered for the first time.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Study commitment

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

HSTY2719: Colonisation in the Americas

Semester 2, 2023 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Study commitment

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect