The AHA has published a new booklet potentially of interest to the members of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: European Emigration to the Americas, 1492 to Independence: A Hemispheric Perspective, written by Eric Hinderaker and Rebecca Horn. Intended for high school and college classrooms, European Emigration to the Americas: 1492 to Independence offers a hemispheric perspective on the process of European emigration, considering all of the Americas from 1492 until circa 1800, when most of the hemisphere was becoming independent of direct European rule. Hinderaker and Horn argue that this migration unfolded in three long eras. The foundations of colonial enterprise were laid in the sixteenth century, especially in the two great population centers of the Americas, where the Aztecs and Incas had already established thriving empires. The seventeenth century saw a dramatic proliferation of colonial sites, widespread experimentation with new labor regimes and patterns of social organization, and an acceleration of transatlantic immigration. By the eighteenth century, the essential characteristics of the various colonies were becoming clear and many regions experienced growth and diversification as emigrants responded to new transatlantic opportunities.
The booklet is intended for use in classrooms, and AHA has priced it at $10 at full price, $7 for AHA members (members can login here to receive the discount).