For over two centuries after 1492, Europeans understood, described, and represented the lands to the west of the Atlantic--the part of the world that we today call the Americas--as Asia. For Europeans in the sixteenth century, Mexico really was India, North America was an extesion of China, and South America was populated by a variety of biblical and Asian sites.

The Friday lecture will consider how and why the idea of an Amerasian continent emerged in early modern Europe, the Saturday presentation how the project contributes to the digital humanities.