Course Nº XI · History

Atlantic Currents

Six centuries of trade, weather, and weighted silence, told as a single long voyage.

Intermediate7 hr612 readers4.6 of five

The Atlantic was not a single ocean to those who crossed it. It was a series of separate seas, each with its own weather, its own rules, its own rhythms of attention. We trace six centuries of crossings — what people carried, what they lost, what they bothered to write down.

The course is taught with primary sources: ships' logs, customs records, letters home that were never sent. The lectures are short. The reading is long. The arguments are slow.

Table of contents

Twelve lessons, in order.

  1. 01

    A century at sea 1

    Plate I — a demonstration.

  2. 02

    A century at sea 2

    Plate II — a demonstration.

  3. 03

    A century at sea 3

    Plate III — a demonstration.

  4. 04

    A century at sea 4

    Plate IV — a demonstration.

  5. 05

    A century at sea 5

    Plate V — a demonstration.

  6. 06

    A century at sea 6

    Plate VI — a demonstration.

Outcomes

  • 01Read a ship's log as a literary document
  • 02Trace a single object across continents and centuries
  • 03Write history that is honest about what is missing from the archive

Begin reading

Enroll, and walk into the room.