Schedule of Events

Modern empire building began in the sixteenth century when Spanish and Portuguese empires financed their growth through the exploitation of Africa and the Americas. Fast forward three hundred years and the United States used the same excuses as these empires to rationalize why they needed to take land from indigenous peoples.  By the mid-nineteenth century the United States stood poised to become a world power.  Having rejected colonialism for itself, one might have expected the United States to reject it for others.  However, the collapse of the older empires created opportunity that President McKinley described in reference to the Filipinos, saying  “there was nothing left      for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them.” Comparisons of the verbiage of the  Spanish architects of empires to letters, treaties, and eyewitness accounts of  the later United States demonstrate the  justification of  “civilizing the uncivilized” as their reason to extend control to overseas territories. Rather than renounce empire building the United States embraced it using the same ideas and wording used centuries before.

Discussions of European expansion and dominance in territories throughout the world often cites both superior technology and the spread of disease due to immunological differences as major underlying causes for European imperial success.  However, a hidden and often ignored tool of imperialism was the use of addictive substances leading to the addiction of indigenous people. Substances such as alcohol and opium allowed European empires to take advantage of  the indigenous peoples for their own economic gain.
In the case of alcohol, the French used it for trade with the Native American tribes in order to create a dependent relationship and exploit the fur trade. The American colonists also used alcohol for trade  in their expeditions through the interior of North America.  In another case, opium became a major tool of the British and other European nations in China taking advantage of the Chinese for economic gain using an addictive substance. The examination of imperial documents, including letters, treaties and speeches from the French, British, and early Americans, highlights the fact the imperial representatives knew the addictive substances made the indigenous people more able to be manipulated, while documents from the indigenous people also demonstrate this awareness and their efforts to limit the exchange.

Discussions of European expansion and dominance in territories throughout the world often cites both superior technology and the spread of disease due to immunological differences as major underlying causes for European imperial success.  However, a hidden and often ignored tool of imperialism was the use of addictive substances leading to the addiction of indigenous people.  Substances such as alcohol and opium allowed European empires to take advantage of  the indigenous peoples for their own economic gain.
In the case of alcohol, the French used it for trade with the Native American tribes in order to create a dependent relationship and exploit the fur trade. The American colonists also used alcohol for trade  in their expeditions through the interior of North America.  In another case, opium became a major tool of the British and other European nations in China taking advantage of the Chinese for economic gain using an addictive substance. The examination of imperial documents, including letters, treaties and speeches from the French, British, and early Americans, highlights the fact the imperial representatives knew the addictive substances made the indigenous people more able to be manipulated, while documents from the indigenous people also demonstrate this awareness and their efforts to limit the exchange.

Islam in the past few decades has fallen under tremendous scrutiny. The relationship between Islam and the United States goes as far back as the latter’s revolution against their British rulers. The Barbary pirates from North Africa terrorized the Mediterranean Sea from the mid-fifteenth century until the nineteenth century, including attacks on British vessels in the colonial era. Hailing from the Ottoman Empire, these pirates later held American vessels hostage in exchange for monetary tributes from the fledgling republic. The threatening of American interests compelled then-President George Washington, and by extension Congress, to authorize the construction of six heavy frigates, establishing the United States Navy in 1794. By the year 1815, two Barbary Wars had been fought and won by the United States and their European allies. This would give the new republic its first large notch of experience in foreign warfare, as well as sowing anti-Islamic sentiment in the American people. The Barbary Wars then helped define the perception of Islam and Muslims in Early America, establishing a strong sentiment of “us versus them” that would resonate for centuries. An analysis of the American popular press in the early nineteenth century demonstrates the persistence of bias and negative views of Islam based on past and present conflicts, the belief of cultural superiority, and by way of creative prose.

The Tlaxcalans are an overlooked Amerindian people group that assisted the Spanish in their colonization of New Mexico and Chihuahua; they pioneered trails to New Mexico, they constructed infrastructure in colonized pueblos, and provided labor for the Spanish. The importance of including marginalized Amerindian peoples in Spanish Colonial history can not be understated as they constituted the majority of the Spanish New World population, and thus had a profound impact on the history of the colonies. The Tlaxcalans, unlike other Amerindian societies ruled by the Spanish, had been awarded special status by their colonial government for their loyalty to Spain, and were heavily relied upon for peacekeeping and colonization. Of the four hundred Tlaxcalan families to consensually move north, many became tradesmen, miners, and merchants in the newly established city of Santa Fe. They created a vibrant society and culture that can still be seen today in places like “Barrio de Analco” and “San Miguel Chapel''. To acquire the information necessary for the research and study of the Tlaxcalan migrations, it was important to study the journals of conquistadors, the diaries of colonial governors, Mexica codices, and antique government records from the 1600’s. Distilling such a massive amount of ancient information was taxing, but produced what was discovered to be a profound story.

HONORS PROJECT
Life Behind the Iron Curtain

Oral histories describe experiences that a survey of history may gloss over; oral histories allow others to see the events from the personal, rather than the political viewpoint.  This honors project is an extension of the Cold War class and asks the question of personal experiences of “war” between 1945 and 1991. We are conducting this project to gain insight into the experiences of those living under Communist jurisdiction during the Cold War.  Over the course of the semester a number of interviews we  asked  people from Korea to East Berlin, Ukraine to Vietnam, and Azerbaijan to Cuba about their experiences of the Cold War. The subject of this poster presentation is women behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin and the Ukraine. So far, we have discovered that life during the Cold War in Soviet countries was dramatically different from life in the Western world. Those living under Communist rule did not have access to any outside information and were only aware of news and current events as told to them by the Communist party. Our preliminary thesis is that while people living in Western countries, such as the United States, were hyper-aware of the Cold War, those living on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain did not know that there was a Cold War going on. 

In 17th century New England, a group of Christian Indians known as Praying Indians found themselves in a regional conflict known as King Philip’s War. Between 1675 and 1678, these Praying Indians answered the call to arms and joined the English in their campaign to repel the hostile native tribes.  In doing so, the Praying Indians displayed a strong sense of self-determination as well as an unmatched martial ability in the field. 
The purpose of this paper is to address the role of the Praying Indians in King Philip’s War and to bring attention to their combative abilities and strategic value.  Primary sources such as New England court documents, John Eliot’s works, and testimonies from Major Gookin, Increase Mather, and other colonial officials were integrated into the narrative.  Unfortunately, much of Native American history has been lost or was never physically recorded, and because of this, great care has been taken to ensure that their actions and voices were extracted from the colonial documents and presented in this paper in a manner that is both historically correct and respectful. 

Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan had officially entered the second World War. After a series of successful battles against the United States, Japan had finally suffered their first major defeat at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. At this point, for the Japanese, it was evident that the war had turned against them. By July 1945, the Potsdam Declaration - outlining the elimination of militarism in Japan and their occupation - was delivered to Japanese officials with a threat of “prompt and utter destruction” if they did not immediately surrender. Ultimately, Japan refused the declaration and the United States detonated two atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The atomic bombs were a traumatic experience for Japan so there was no coincidence the devastating experience lingered at the forefront of their consciousness and influenced their mainstream media and culture. In the aftermath of World War II, following years of destruction and the effects of the atomic bombs, a shift in Japanese perceptions on wartime destruction, national identity, and technology can be identified in the anime and manga produced between the 1960s and 1990s. Their stories present a somber and formidable message regarding the effects of war and how it affected citizens for years after the devastation. Through the efforts of Japanese cartoonists to portray this horrific event, their work can be used as an educational message to reveal the destruction of war, its effects, and how it had the ability to change a society.

Following its successful revolution in 1781, the United States found itself in an economically insecure position in lieu of the split from its former mother country: Great Britain. In response to this insecurity, the United States sought to send its merchant vessels abroad to areas not traditionally emphasized as important to post-Revolution America, such as China and Africa. The latter of these regions proved to be particularly problematic due the presence of the Barbary pirates; privateers who were under the employment of several North African countries known as the Barbary States. The consequences of The Barbary States’ maritime policies provoked The First Barbary War, which began following President Thomas Jefferson's orders to dispatch American navy vessels to Tripoli in 1801. However, as far back as fifteen years prior to war, the American press retained a consistent interest with regard to the affairs of the Barbary States, such as Algiers, and their relations with the United States, and in the years between 1786 and 1801, the American press often published unfavorable works on the North African states, specifically citing the their use of piracy, as well as their requests for ransom and tributary payments from the United States government.

Following its successful revolution in 1781, the United States found itself in an economically insecure position in lieu of the split from its former mother country: Great Britain. In response to this insecurity, the United States sought to send its merchant vessels abroad to areas not traditionally emphasized as important to post-Revolution America, such as China and Africa. The latter of these regions proved to be particularly problematic due the presence of the Barbary pirates; privateers who were under the employment of several North African countries known as the Barbary States. The consequences of The Barbary States’ maritime policies provoked The First Barbary War, which began following President Thomas Jefferson's orders to dispatch American navy vessels to Tripoli in 1801. However, as far back as fifteen years prior to war, the American press retained a consistent interest with regard to the affairs of the Barbary States, such as Algiers, and their relations with the United States, and in the years between 1786 and 1801, the American press often published unfavorable works on the North African states, specifically citing the their use of piracy, as well as their requests for ransom and tributary payments from the United States government.