The 93rd St Anne’s College Domus Seminar will be delivered by Professor Simon Park:
Drawing on the shipwreck narratives explored in my book Wreckers: Disaster in the Age of Discovery (Penguin, 2025), this talk revisits the so-called Age of Discovery from the vantage point of failures. Even as Europeans proclaimed their superiority when embarking on global ventures, their journeys were frequently shaped by greed, rivalry, and repeated catastrophe. Shipwrecks, in particular, expose the fragility of imperial ambition: far from self-sufficient conquerors, Europeans often survived only through reliance on local knowledge, indigenous expertise in language, geography, foodways, and medicine, and the goodwill—or strategic calculations—of the people they encountered.
These stories reveal a precarious balance between imperial aspiration, local collaboration, and resistance—between those who leveraged European presence to their own ends and those who resisted it. By centering moments of disaster, this talk reconsiders the dynamics of encounter at the heart of early modern global expansion.
All are welcome to attend — the talk will begin at 5.30, to be followed by drinks at 6.30.