
Ben Franklin's World
This is a multiple award-winning podcast about early American history. It’s a show for people who love history and who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features conversations with professional historians who help shed light on important people and events in early American history. It is produced by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Latest episodes

Mar 20, 2018 • 52min
178 Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America
In 1535, Spanish holdings in the Americas proved so great that the Spanish government created the Viceroyalty of New Spain to govern all territory north of the Isthmus of Panama. The jurisdiction of New Spain included areas of upper and lower California and large areas of the American southwest and southeast, including Florida. Karoline Cook, author of Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America, serves as our guide as we explore some of the political, cultural, and religious history of New Spain. Specifically, how Spaniards and Spanish Americans used ideas about Muslims and a group of “new Christian” converts called Moriscos to define who could and should be able to settle and help colonies North America. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute HelloFresh (Promo Code BFWorld30) Complementary Episodes Episode 082: Alejandra Dubcovsky, Information & Communication in the Early American South Episode 090: Caitlin Fitz, Age of American Revolutions Episode 110: Joshua Taylor, How Genealogists Research Episode 114: Karin Wulf, The History of Genealogy in British North America Episode 139: Andés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americans Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 2018 • 57min
177 The Social Life of Maps in America
Did you know that maps have social lives? Maps facilitate a lot of different social and political relationships between people and nations. And they did a lot of this work for Americans throughout the early American past. Martin Brückner, a Professor of English at the University of Delaware, joins us to discuss early American maps and early American mapmaking with details from his book The Social Life of Maps in America.
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/177 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Georgian Papers Programme Citizen Transcriber Sign Up OI Reader App Complementary Episodes Episode 015: Joyce Chaplin, Round About The Earth Episode 050: Marla Miller, Betsy Ross Episode 136: Jennifer Van Horn, Material Culture and the Making of America Episode 138: Patrick Spero, Frontier Politics in Early America Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 6, 2018 • 52min
176 The Value of the Enslaved From Womb to Grave
What did it mean to be a person and to also be a commodity in early America? Daina Ramey Berry, author of The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, takes us behind the scenes of her research so we can explore how early Americans valued and commodified enslaved men, women, and children. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/176 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Georgian Papers Programme Citizen Transcriber Sign-up Complementary Episodes Episode 008: Gregory O’Malley, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade in British America, 1619-1807 Episode 016: Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy, Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 Episode 070: Jennifer Morgan, How Historians Research Episode 126: Terri Snyder, Death, Suicide, & Slavery in British North America Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 27, 2018 • 47min
175 House Divided: The Revolution in Ben Franklin's House
Just how personal was the American Revolution? What could the event and war mean for individual people and families? Daniel Mark Epstein, author of The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin’s House, guides as as we explore what the Revolution meant for Benjamin Franklin and his family and how the Revolution caused a major rift between Franklin and his beloved son, William. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/176 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Georgian Papers Programme Citizen Transcriber Sign Up Complementary Episodes Episode 001: James Green, The Library Company of Philadelphia Episode 022: Vivian Bruce Conger, Deborah Read Franklin & Sally Franklin Bache Episode 031: Benjamin Franklin and the Papers of Benjamin Franklin Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances Episode 138: Patrick Spero, Frontier Politics in Early America Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 20, 2018 • 52min
174 Yellow Fever in the Early American Republic
It’s February 2018 and doctors have declared this year’s seasonal flu epidemic as one of the worst to hit the United States in over a decade. Yet this flu epidemic is nothing compared to the yellow fever epidemics that struck the early American republic during the 1790s and early 1800s. So what happened when epidemic diseases took hold in early America? How did early Americans deal with disease and illness? Thomas Apel, author of Feverish Bodies, Enlightened Minds: Science and the Yellow Fever Controversy in the Early American Republic, has some answers for us. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/174 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Georgian Papers Programme Become a Citizen Transcriber Complementary Episodes Episode 005: Jeanne Abrams, Revolutionary Medicine Episode 052: Ronald Johnson, Early United States-Haitian Diplomacy Episode 116: Erica Charters, Disease & the Seven Years’ War Episode 124: James Alexander Dun, Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America Episode 164:The American Revolution in the Haitian Revolution Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 13, 2018 • 56min
173 Colonial Port Cities and Slavery
The histories of early North America and the Caribbean are intimately intertwined. The same European empires we encounter in our study of early America also appear in the Caribbean. The colonies of these respective empires often traded goods, people, and ideas between each other. Marisa Fuentes, an associate professor of history and women and gender studies at Rutgers University and author of Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive, joins us to explore some of the connections mainland North America and the British Caribbean shared in their practices of slavery in urban towns. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/173 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Georgian Papers Programme Citizen Transcriber Sign Up Complementary Episodes Episode 066: Simon Newman, How Historians Find Their Research Topics Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston Episode 084: Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 6, 2018 • 51min
172 Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War
Intelligence gathering plays an important role in the foreign policies of many modern-day nation states, including the United States. Which raises the questions: How and when did the United States establish its foreign intelligence service?
To answer those questions we’ll need to journey back to the American Revolution. Our guide is Kenneth Daigler, an intelligence professional with 33 years experience managing human sources and collection and the author of Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War, will facilitate our mental time travel and exploration of this topic. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/172 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Georgian Papers Programme Georgian Papers Transcriber Sign-up Complementary Episodes Episode 065: Alexander Rose, Washington’s Spies Episode 129: J.L. Bell, The Road to Concord Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History Episode 144: Robert Parkinson, The Common Cause of the Revolution Episode 155: Pauline Maier’s American Revolution Episode 158: The Revolutionaries’ Army Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 30, 2018 • 1h 2min
171 Native Americans, British Colonists, and Trade in North America
History books like to tell us that Native Americans did not fully understand British methods and ideas of trade. Is this really true? Did Native Americans only understand trade as a form of simplistic, gift exchange? Jessica Stern, a Professor of History at California State University, Fullerton and the author of The Lives in Objects: Native Americans, British Colonists, and Cultures of Labor and Exchange in the Southeast, takes us on a journey into the southeast during the early 18th century to show us how trade between Native Americans and British colonists really took place. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/171 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute
Hello Fresh (Promo Code: BFWorld30) The Great Courses Plus (Free Trial) Complementary Episodes Episode 056: Daniel J. Tortora, The Anglo-Cherokee War, 1759-1761 Episode 091: Gregory Dowd, Rumors, Hoaxes, and Legends in Early America Episode 104: Andrew Lipmann, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern Coast Episode 158: The Revolutionaries’ Army Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 23, 2018 • 44min
170 New England Bound: Slavery in Early New England
New England was a place with no cash crops. It was a place where many of its earliest settlers came to live just so they could worship their Puritan faith freely. New England was also a place that became known for its strong anti-slavery sentiment during the 19th century. So how did New England also become a place that practiced slavery? Wendy Warren, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist book New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, joins us to explore why New Englanders practiced slavery and just how far back the region’s slave past goes. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/170 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Great Courses Plus (Free Trial) Complementary Episodes Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern Coast Episode 118: Christy Pujara-Clark, The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolition Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 16, 2018 • 53min
169 The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin
We remember Benjamin Franklin as an accomplished printer, scientist, and statesman. Someone who came from humble beginnings and made his own way in the world. Rarely do we remember Franklin as a man of faith. Benjamin Franklin spent more time grappling with questions of religion, faith, virtue, and morality in his writing than about any other topic. Thomas S. Kidd, a Professor of History at Baylor University and author of Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father, leads us on a detailed exploration of the religious life of Benjamin Franklin. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/169 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Great Courses Plus (Free Trial) Complementary Episodes Episode 001: James Green, The Library Company of Philadelphia Episode 022: Vivian Bruce Conger, Deborah Read Franklin & Sally Franklin Bache Episode 025: Jessica Parr, Inventing George Whitefield Episode 031: Michael Hattem, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin Episode 141: Drafting the Declaration of Independence Episode 149: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices