Online Workshops and Seminars in U.S. History and American Literature

Why Some New World Colonies Succeeded
and Others Failed

*Please note: This workshop is currently full.
To join a waiting list or for more information please contact
Caryn Koplik (919) 406-0111, or ckoplik@nationalhumanitiescenter.org.

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Time: 7:00-8:30 p.m. (EST)

Registration Deadline: September 18, 2009
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In the first two centuries after 1492, most colonies in the New World failed. This workshop explores why. We will read accounts of failures and successes and discuss what happened. How much did colonizers' expectations have to do with success or failure? Were the desires and power of local Indians the most important factors? How large a role did weather and climate play? Was luck the deciding factor? Should we be surprised that any succeeded?

Leader: Kathleen DuVal, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; National Humanities Center Fellow