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Mediterranean Maritime Supremacy, 1500-1700

Module description

The module analyses the importance of the arrival of the ‘northerners’ (English and ‘Flemish’) into the Mediterranean, the ways in which this unsettled the local balance of maritime and commercial powers, and the crucial consequences this had for European history at large. It investigates in depth the consequences of the geographical ‘discoveries’ on the structure of Mediterranean trade, the crucial role of technology in the development of shipping, and the practical ways in which the English and ‘Flemish’ contributed to the decline of local powers such as Genoa, Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will need effective communication and analytical skills, oral and written, to complete many of your modules and in a job after you graduate.  This module aims to help you develop your skills in researching, interpreting, and analysing both primary and secondary material, and in reporting on your work.  It provides you with an opportunity to explore an area of history in more depth, and helps you to develop the depth of understanding you will require to study more specialised areas of history.  It will also give you an opportunity to work in a team on a group presentation.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Evaluate the role of maritime trade – both long-distance and regional – during the early modern period in Europe.
• 2. Make a close evaluation of the key developments and debates on the interconnection between maritime, economic and political supremacy, and the reasons behind the economic decline of southern Europe and the ascendancy of northern European countries.
• 3. Evaluate how the maritime expansion of some European states influenced not only the structure of Mediterranean trade but the future developments of European and world history.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner.
• 5. Analyse closely original sources and assess their reliability as historical evidence.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Study independently and as part of a group, including presentation of material for group discussion and presentation of complex arguments orally.
• 7. Select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is expected that it will cover some or all of the following topics: the medieval background; the Italian maritime supremacy; Genoa and Venice; the impact of the geographical ‘discoveries’; the arrival of the ‘Flemish’; the arrival of the English; Anglo-Spanish conflict and the impact of privateering; galleys and galleons; Muslim and Christian corsairing; the Barbary States; the war of Candia; the beginnings of Greek shipping; the maritime ascendancy of France; Ottoman maritime and naval policy; the Mediterranean in global perspective.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

The re-assessment consists of a 3000-word written assignment, as in the original assessment, but replaces participation in the group presentation with an individual presentation equivalent to an individual’s contribution, to be recorded and submitted with all supporting materials as for the original assessment; failing this, students should submit a written script that could be delivered in such a presentation (750 words) along with all supporting materials as for the original assessment.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

D. Abulafia, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, London, 2011

F. Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 vols., Berkeley, 1995;

M. Fusaro, C.J Heywood and M.–S. Omri eds, Trade and Cultural Exchange in the Early Modern Mediterranean: Braudel’s Maritime Legacy, London, 2010

M. Greene, ‘Beyond the Northern Invasion: The Mediterranean in the Seventeenth Century’, Past and Present, 2002