In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Charles Tingley, Senior Research Librarian at the St. Augustine Historical Society, joins host Liz Covart to explore the early American history of La Florida through the lens of one of its capitals: the city of St. Augustine. [Read more…] about St Augustine and Early Florida
Spanish Empire
A United Nations Exhibit Sheds Light On Dutch Colonial Slavery
The exhibit “Slavery: Ten True Stories of Dutch Colonial Slavery from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam” will be displayed in the lobby of the United Nations in New York City from February 27 through March 30, 2023.
The exhibition explores ten true personal stories centered on wooden foot stocks known as a “tronco” (Portuguese for tree trunk) that were used to constrain enslaved people by clamping their ankles. The foot stocks represent the more than one million people who forced to work in Dutch colonies on sugar plantations and in mines and harbors in Brazil, Suriname, the Caribbean, South Africa, and Asia. [Read more…] about A United Nations Exhibit Sheds Light On Dutch Colonial Slavery
Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish Empire
In 1492, Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic linked Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean. As Columbus’ sponsor, Spain became the first European Power to use the peoples, resources, and lands of the Americas and the Caribbean as the basis for its Atlantic Empire.
How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these peoples and lands? [Read more…] about Pearls and the Nature of the Spanish Empire