#494 - Contested Continent: A Dialogue with Peter C. Mancall

#494 - Contested Continent: A Dialogue with Peter C. Mancall

From Converging Dialogues by Converging Dialogues

June 7, 2026 · 1h 7m

About this episode

Xavier Bonilla dialogues with Peter C. Mancall about the early years of North America, covering various historical aspects and figures.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Mancall about the early years of North America. They discuss what is America, importance of Maize and landscape of pre-Columbian America, Native Peoples in the middle of the 15th century, Norse discoveries, Columbus, French in Canada, Cortes in Mexico, British involvement, religion, slavery, and the legacy of early North American history. Peter C. Mancall is Distinguished Professor; the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities; Professor of History, Anthropology, and Economics; and the Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute. He is an elected fellow of the Society of American Historians and the Royal Historical Society and an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society and the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. He was the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University in the 2019-2020 academic year. He is the author of many books, including the recent book, Contested Continent: The struggle for North America, c. 1000-1680 . Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

People in this episode

Host: Xavier Bonilla

Guest: Peter C. Mancall

Topics covered

  • early North America
  • pre-Columbian America
  • Native Peoples
  • Norse discoveries
  • Columbus
  • French in Canada
  • British involvement

Keywords

  • North America
  • Maize
  • Native Peoples
  • Norse discoveries
  • Columbus
  • French in Canada
  • Cortes
  • British involvement
  • slavery
  • early history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute

Books & works: Contested Continent: The struggle for North America, c. 1000-1680

Places: North America, Canada, Mexico, America

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