Colonial Latin America: Invasion to Independence
Introductory survey of colonial Latin American history (late 15th-early 19th c.) covering Spanish/Portuguese America via primary and secondary sources.
Summary
Past student reviews · Francisco Scarano
The class was described as a bit hard, requiring students to be responsible and show interest to receive adequate support.
What you’ll be able to do
Describe the contours of Latin American history in the period between invasion and independence
Apply and use key concepts relevant to colonial Latin American history, such as colonialism, genocide, corporate society, transatlantic slave trade, independence movements
Read for a dedicated purpose across different genres and forms of writing
Apply historical reasoning to understand both the epistemology of early modern people and the origins of present-day issues
Communicate effectively through presentations, discussion, and written work
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapNone
- None
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- None
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
FRANCISCO SCARANO is recorded teaching in Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Francisco Scarano
Francisco Scarano taught the course as a fun and interesting experience, using outlines to structure the material.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.64 GPA, 72.2% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.50 GPA, 80.6% A/AB (n=36 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.57 GPA, 77.3% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Francisco Scarano
The class was described as a bit hard, requiring students to be responsible and show interest to receive adequate support.
Past student reviews · Francisco Scarano
While the instructor was funny and helpful, the reviewer noted that his teaching style was sometimes a bit disorganized.
Topics
- European expansion, invasion, and first contacts between Old and New Worlds
- Religion, sexuality, gender, labor, production, trade, exchange, and politics
- Colonialism, genocide, corporate society, transatlantic slave trade, and independence movements
Skills
- Contextualizing key processes and events in colonial Latin American history
- Identifying and evaluating historical arguments
- Interpreting primary sources and building historical arguments
- Applying key concepts like colonialism, genocide, and the transatlantic slave trade
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2025
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
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Selected offering source records
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Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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