The Overview

Assignment 1

• Options: One option only, with some choice of which parts of a book to transcribe and read closely
  • Topic: Transcription and analysis of an Early Modern Text
• Length: 2-3 pages of transcription, plus 500 words of reflection
• Due: October 23, 5 pm.
• Point value: 5
• Details: see below

The Details!

While silver, gold, and even fish were profitable commodities, few things were precious than good information on the colonies. How could states - both the European imperial states and the local governments in the colonies - plan their actions without a sure knowledge of their worlds? Much of what Europeans knew about North and South America came from either travellers sojourning through the Americas, missionaries, and sometimes more specialised figures like surveyors and merchant adventurers.  

We met Richard Whitborne in Week 5, but this assignment asks you to think about his account as an historical text, in addition to being an exercise in transcribing. In your reflection, think about the text as an expression of his peculiar interests, his background, the reason he is even there, his audience (whose going to read this book?), on the broader interests (including prejudices) of society. Think about people’s interests, and by interests I mean both what captures their attention and what captures their attention because of who they are: are they are state officials? investors? missionaries?

How can travel accounts and reports help us to understand the colonial era? What information do they give us? How can that help us to understand both the specific places they describe and the general context of the American in the colonial era. Think too about what they’re describing: natural features of the landscape, altered landscapes, roads, water-routes, resources. Do we see economic activities? Do we see people? Settlers? Indigenous peoples? Indications of past presences? Agriculture? 

Assignment 1:

Transcription and analysis of Richard Whitborne's, A Discourse and Discovery of New-Found-Land

This assignment builds on the lesson you did in Week 05 ("Reading Early Modern Books").

• Step 1: Complete the lesson for Week 05, including all forum posts. We meet Whitborne in Week 5, but this assignment looks at the section in which he discusses NFLD in detail. This assignment builds on the skills you learned in Week 5's forum exercise.
• Step 2: Closely read the following selection from Whitborne's Discourse and Discovery of New-Found-Land
  • Choose a section of the text that you find interesting, and transcribe approximately 2-3 pages. (I have added a few comments in the margins to suggest a few sections that may be of interest to you. Look for the blue text boxes for inspiration!)
  • Transcriptions should be single spaced, and remember to include the page headings, and numbers in your transcription so that I can find them in the text. You can begin in the middle of a page if you are attempting to address one of the comments I left in the margins, but remember to tell me you are doing so! 
• Step 3: Reflect on your work. Briefly describe what is happening in the text, how it relates to the rest of the text, and finally how the text fits into the broader historical context. What can we learn by reading the travel literature provided by early explorers? In other words, connect it to broader course themes, and at least ONE other text we have read in the course thus far. (Maximum 500 words, double spaced)
•  Step 4: Submit your transcription of your 3 chosen pages plus your reflection in one document using the Assignments Tool in Brightspace.