Early Modern Times is a blog that will seek to enlighten and entertain you with news, events, and general insight into the inner workings of the Early Modern Studies Program, or to choose an apposite metaphor, the internal mechanism which makes EMSP’s clock tick.
Early Modern Times is written by Dr. Simon Kow, Associate Professor in the Early Modern Studies Program.
Dear readers, Due to an inundation of work this year, Early Modern Times will henceforth appear at irregular intervals. If you'd like notifications of new posts, you can subscribe to the EMSP Instagram account 'earlymodernstudiesukc' or Facebook page 'Early Modern Studies at the University of King's College'. Till next time, Simon Kow Early Modern floating…
Dear readers, Atlantic Canadians are still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Fiona, as are Americans in Florida and other states from Hurricane Ian; meanwhile, 1/3 of Pakistan was submerged by flooding in late August and early September. While all this has been happening, I was researching the myth of the sunken island Atlantis for…
Dear readers, Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the UK (and Canada, among other Commonwealth countries) has a new monarch: King Charles III. There has not been a king of England named Charles since the 17th century, and the reign of especially Charles I was beset by ill fortune and catastrophe (though Charles II…
Dear readers, Welcome to a new academic year! Last month on Aug. 15, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a speech on the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence and Partition. In keeping with tradition , the speech was given at the Red Fort (Lal Qila) in Delhi (pictured above in an 1817 watercolour), built…
Dear readers, It was reported last month that skeletons from soldiers who fought at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) were uncovered in Belgium. The Battle of Waterloo (pictured above in an 1815 painting by William Sadler) was the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Let us turn to a brief overview of the career of Napoleon…
Dear readers, This recent Guardian article outlines potential NASA missions to send probes to Uranus, the seventh planet from our sun. Uranus lies on its side and is the coldest planet orbiting the sun (despite not being the farthest): these and other unusual aspects render it invaluable for scientists studying the formation of the solar…
Dear readers, Last month, it was revealed that the wreck of the royal ship The Gloucester (pictured above) was discovered 15 years ago off the coast of Norfolk, England. The ship struck Leman Bank off Yarmouth on May 6, 1682. Among the passengers was James, Duke of York and future king of England. If he…
Dear readers, Recently, the Guardian Weekly reported on a controversial project to construct houses, shops, a hotel, and conference centre in Cape Town, South Africa--depicted above in a 1726 print. This has been resisted by some Indigenous communities, who regard this capitalist venture as 'history repeating'--displacement by yet another wealthy corporation, as was the case…
Dear readers, The New York Times recently published findings from its Haiti 'ransom' project, about the Caribbean island's indemnity to France from the early 19th to the mid 20th centuries, and which crippled the country's economy. Haiti is currently the poorest nation in the Americas, but the French government has refused to acknowledge its historic…
