Categories: Empire, Transnational History, Indians, Colonialism, Environmental, Synthesis

Place: North and South America

Time Period: 13,000 B.C.-1820 (1775 for Eastern Seaboard, 1820 for western areas)

- Emphasis on PROCESS of colonization - as introduction of new ideas, diseases, animals, people, caused responses - a process that is seen in various case studies based on region. 

- Indian relations as central to every colonial region, and were indispensable as trading partners, military allies, guides, and religious converts. 

- Stresses the importance of empires (balance to emphasis on Indians) - even if imperial policies and actions were not completed as they might have intended, they still mattered quite a bit.  

- Balance between teleology and contingency - not wanting the United States to seem like a foregone conclusion, but also looking for patterns that explain revolution

- Transnational perspective - tries to de-Anglicize settlement

- Fragmentation of peoples - emphasizes not only tons of different groups (Russians, Indians, Blacks) but also the tremendous diversity within those groups