Over the course of the nineteenth century, settlers from Europe and the United States transformed the western half of the North American continent, including the lives of its indigenous inhabitants, and even the landscape itself. But the process was not straightforward; it was full of conflict and contradiction. What did \"civilization\" really mean, and was it always desirable? What did \"progress\" look like, and what had to be destroyed along the way? Who had the right to control land and its resources, or to decide what justice and fairness truly meant? Migrants and settlers of all races, along with artists, writers, politicians, and businessmen, all had their ideas about these problems. In this module, we'll follow the links between changes and struggles on the ground, or on the land, and how people understood and sought to take control over that change—including by means of both law and violence.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
analyse and critically appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny
analyse and critically evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material
critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration
summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form
