Joyce Chaplin (Department of History)
First-Year Seminar 72C | 4 Credits (Fall Term) | CANVAS SITE
Could we curtail fossil fuel emissions by reviving sailing technologies? What would that be like? Would reviving the old technology give new life to the old problems that went along with it? In the past, ocean-going ships were crucial to the spread of human population in the Pacific, the growth of European empires; warfare and piracy; the Atlantic slave trade; charting of seas, islands, and coastlines; fishing and whaling; scientific exploration; adventure. We can get a very good sense of a world without airplanes by looking at the “age of sail,” the roughly three centuries (1550-1850) when European colonization—and resistance to it—globalized the planet within the social and technological constraints of sailing ships, with legacies that endure. Before the rise of steam power in the nineteenth century, water and wind provided the fastest means of long-distance travel or communication. And sailing ships have continued to influence our ideas of power, liberty, identity, and material well-being.
continued to influence our ideas of power, liberty, identity, and material well-being.
Note: The seminar will include a trip to the USS Constitution in Boston.
During J-Term in January, students who successfully complete this class will be invited to join a short J-term special program (January 13-23, 2026), exploring New England’s maritime and natural histories—at no cost!