analepsis

Recall that a core theme of the course has been the status of the Americas over the span of roughly half a millennium. At present we tend to think of the western hemisphere as an aggregate of nation-states and “natural” geographical regions. The Americas are fragmented, whether according to political boundaries or as the consequence of topography. But if we look back to Fernandez-Armesto, we see that these distinctions have not always been operative, and further that their significance has waxed and waned since European contact.

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