This program will simultaneously examine the expansion of two empires into remote regions, regions that over time became integral components of the United States and Russia. European Americans expanded into the western territories of North America not long after European Russians expanded into the eastern territories of North Asia. Washington State today is as much a part of the United States as Siberia is a part of Russia. These are recent historical events, however, for indigenous non-European peoples have lived in Siberia and North America at least twenty times longer than have the now dominant Europeans. We will therefore investigate the historical, environmental and geographical conditions that led to the territorial and political expansion by Europeans into these “new” lands. We will explore how European methods of land acquisition redefined territory by using mathematical constructs to create new and clearly defined political spaces, some of which (like Alaska) Russia sold to the United States. Because territorial expansion into what became the western United States and eastern Russia also played a significant role in nation-building and national self-perception, students will also examine differing concepts of nations and nationalism.

The program will include lectures, book seminars, field trips, and film analyses. Students will have the opportunity to earn credit in the following fields: history, environmental history, geography, writing, and film analysis.