INQ-277 | 1492: History and Memory

Crosslisted As: HIST277

Topic Description:

Why was 1492 a momentous year? How do we understand and remember Columbus, but also the Catholic Kings capturing of Granada, ending 700 years of Islamic rule, and their forcing Jews to choose between conversion and exile a few months later? This travel class explores these three pivotal moments in the history of Spain and the early modern world: the conquest of Granada; the expulsion of the Jews and the creation of the Sephardic diaspora; and the Columbus voyage which brought together the fates of Africa, the Americas, and Europe. We will focus on how these events are understood, explained, and commemorated in Spanish public historical practice in museums and memorials. This class is thus about 1492, but also about how we understand 1492 today and what it has come to represent to us, more than five hundred years later.

Course Types Offered: Travel

Topic Approved: April 2016