Notes regarding credits...

This course consists of 40 hours of instruction. However, students may earn 45 hours by attending supplemental sessions and completing additional coursework. Please check with your home university to find out whether you need 40 or 45 hours to earn course equivalents.

Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

High Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of five semesters (or seven quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

1. Introduction
The objectives of this class are the following:
- Understanding of the most important phenomena of Modern Age Spanish history
-Comprehension of the historical context in which language, culture, art, and literature were developed
-Understanding of the big picture of Modern Spain as compared to the current European and American views.
These general objectives provide a framework for the more specific themes that follow:
- Insistence in socio-cultural phenomena of Modern Spanish History and its relation with the outside world.
- Attention to the territorial uniqueness of the Modern Age both in the Iberian Peninsula, the rest of Europe, and America.
- Appreciation throughout the period occupied by Spain's role internationally.
- Analysis of the most prominent milestones and historical processes of Spain.
- Orientation to sources and bibliographies in order to gain a deeper understanding of Spain in the Modern Age.
2. Content
1. Introduction to the Spanish Modern Age.
2. The Spain of the Catholic kings.
3. The Spanish population in the XVI and XVII centuries.
4. Expansion and crisis of the Spanish economy (XVI and XVII centuries)
5. The dos legislative bodies with regards to Spanish society in the XIX century.
6. Political structure of the Spanish monarchy.
7. Carlos V and his epoch.
8. Reform and counter-reformation in Spain.
9. The Spanish empire of Felipe II.
10. The Spanish decline. Felipe III and Felipe IV.
11. Carlos II and the War of Succession.
12. Culture and mentality in Spain during the XVI and XVII centuries.
13. The Spanish population in the XVIII century.
14. Economic circumstance and structure in XV century Spain.
15. Spanish society in the XVIII century.
16. Tradition and reform in the political-administrative structure.
17. Religion and the church in XVIII century Spain.
18. Politics in the first half of the XVIII century. Felipe V and Fernando VI.
19. Spain under Carlos III.
20. Carlos IV and the crises of the Old Regimen.
21. The culture of the Enlightenment in XVIII century Spain.

3. Evaluation
The performance of the students will be evaluated through two tests given during the course of the semester. Both the midterm and the final tests will consist of short questions over the basic content explained in class.
Also, attendance and participation in discussions over the material assigned will be considered.

4. Bibliography
COMELLAS, J.L., Historia de España moderna y contemporánea., Madrid, Rialp.
ELLIOT, La España Imperial, Barcelona, Vicens Vives.
VICENS VIVES, Historia social y económica de España y América., Barcelona, Vicens Vives.
RUMEU DE ARMAS, A., Historia de España Moderna, Salamanca, Anaya,
1969.
DOMÍNGUEZ MARTÍN, A., El Antiguo Régimen. Los Reyes Católicos y los Austrias, Madrid, Alfaguara.
ANES, G., El Antiguo Régimen. Los Borbones, Madrid, Alfaguara.