Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation. Post seventeen: questions

Some questions to be thinking about. Some can easily be solved with a quick internet search? Some have no generally agreed answer ...

Why did Cook and his crew have an enormous technological advantage over the native peoples of Tahiti, Hawaii, New Holland etc?

Why did the different peoples die from European diseases, and not the Europeans from their diseases?

Why were Cook’s instructions secret both for the first and the third voyages?

Why did he have just one ship on the first expedition, and two on the second and third expeditions?

Why were there soldiers on board all the expeditions?

What light does Captain Cook’s story throw on the question of the role of the individual in history?

What would you make an axe with if you didn’t have any metal? What about an arrow?

Brexit season 2: Is Winter Coming?

If you  are following the somewhat confusing situation with the British Conservative government and Brexit, you might be interested in some amusing comment from comedian Mark Steel:

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/no-deal-brexit-lib-dem-jo-swinson-corbyn-johnson-a9061271.html?fbclid=IwAR3hoiS5Et-KAVygtAEV3gV8LqPhiNaF1ez-f3xnythH5DcqZi9n3RyIQeA 

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 post sixteen: music

As Cook began his voyage in 1769, his sponsor the earl of sandwich and his milieu might well have been listening to the concerts of the latest music. Like this piece, out that year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qyp9-Dy49Y

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation. Post fifteen: A folk song

The expeditions of Cook have inspired a number of songs over the years. Not all of them are of high quality! This is perhaps one of the better ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGZlN9EpF3s

Brexit saison 2

If you are unsure what is going to happen in the Uk this autumn, you are not the only one, as the country faces its biggest political crisis for decades, and the Conservative party, the oldest political party in Europe, shatters.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/11/mps-opposing-no-deal-brexit-will-need-new-tactics-report-says

200 years ago: Peterloo

One of the most important protests in British history happened just 200 years ago.
The BBC has made a radio programme about it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00076tg

Captain Cook agrégation 2020 option civilisation post fourteen: the invention of racism

Naturally to understand the complexity of first contact between "the West" and the native peoples of the places visited by Cook, it is essential to have some idea of where racism came from and how it works. This BBC documentary (part one of a three-part series on the history of racism) is helpful. You will find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcrcflTCu4Q&

Parts two and three, which are about the 19th and 20th centuries, are also good, but less of a priority when studying Cook's expeditions.

Don’t hesitate to use one of the many sites which will transform a YouTube video into an MP3 file. Then you can work while practising your golf swing. 

Captain Cook agrégation 2020 option civilisation post thirteen: first contacts

No doubt the most important part of Cook's story is the first contacts made with peoples who had not been in touch with the "Western world". By the end of the nineteenth century most peoples had had contact: but not all. This video shows a very recent experience of first contact between a few members of a tribe which had been completely isolated, no doubt for over a thousand years. Naturally today, when the aim of western first contacters is not specifically to take the land, the situation is different, but still thought-provoking. This video is only a few minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYEoLw93qvk&app=desktop

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation post twelve

The SAES  has published a bibliography on Cook's travels. Do not feel intimidated: nobody reads everything!

http://saesfrance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2020-AGREG-BIBLIO-COOK.pdf 

Captain Cook agrégation anglais option civilisation post eleven

There is a huge amount of material online about Captain Cook's journeys, and I will be putting together a guide to help you through this jungle (I even found a video which claimed that Cook's journals proved the earth is flat!) Obviously, one must pay attention to the provenance of any material. This is from the British Library website, and concerns the indignenous aboriginals reaction to Cook's arrival.

https://www.bl.uk/the-voyages-of-captain-james-cook/articles/an-indigenous-australian-perspective-on-cooks-arrival

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation post ten

For reading the journals themselves, which are rather long, I recommend reading the second and third journeys first, and then the first journey. The accounts of the second and third journeys are more accessible.

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation britannique post nine

Over the summer you will be getting familiar with the different subjects on the programme of the agrégation. I highly recommend this round table organized by the British Library in London on the death of Cook. It shows some of the important questions raised. The sound on the video is bad at the beginning but quickly gets better. Listen out in particular for questions raised by a Hawaiian woman ( if I understand correctly) at the end.

The video is here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCCbvXB164&

Don’t hesitate to use one of the many sites which will transform a YouTube video into an MP3 file. Then you can work while doing the family shopping.

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation britannique post eight

This may appear a little technical, but it was a matter of life and death to Cook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_distance_(navigation)

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation post seven

Not everyone can go off to Sydney to climb aboard the replica of Captain Cook's  Ship the Endeavour (which I will be doing next week)! But next best is to absorb the atmosphere with this virtual tour.

https://www.sea.museum/anmm_files/VirtualEndeavour/Virtual-Endeavour.html

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 post six

To understand Cook's crew, his voyages and  their consquences, we need some idea of what life was like in 18th century England.  I highly recommend this general book.

The Penguin Social History of Britain: English Society in the Eighteenth Century (Anglais) Broché – 25 octobre 2012

de Roy Porter  (Auteur)

Captain Cook agrégation anglais option civilisation 2020 post five

This short comic video is not about Captain Cook, but it could have been.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wxLPJM0kos&app=desktop

Captain Cook agrégation anglais 2020 option civilisation post four

One of the major questions posed by Cook's voyages is the future of the australian aboriginal peoples. This series of documentaries will give you some good information. There are a number of episodes, but episode one is essential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_u0eQOPIwQ