The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900

by Thomas Benjamin

• ISBN13: 9780521616492
• ISBN10: 0521616492
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

From ca. 1400 to 1900 the Atlantic Ocean served as a major highway, allowing people and goods to move easily between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. These interactions and exchanges transformed European, African, and American societies and led to the creation of new peoples, cultures, economies, and ideas throughout the Atlantic arena. The Atlantic World provides a comprehensive and lucid history of one of the most important and impactful cross-cultural encounters in human history. Empires, economies, and trade in the Atlantic world thrived due to the European drive to expand as well as the creative ways in which the peoples living along the Atlantic's borders adapted to that drive. This comprehensive, cohesively written textbook offers a balanced view of the activity in the Atlantic world. The 40 maps, 60 illustrations, and multiple excerpts from primary documents bring the history to life. Each chapter offers a reading list for those interested in a more in-depth look at the period.

Author Biography

Thomas Benjamin is Professor of History and a member of the Center for Transnational and Comparative History at Central Michigan University. He is Editor-in-Chief of the three-volume Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism Since 1450 and co-editor of The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. ix
List of Illustrations	p. xi
List of Maps	p. xiv
List of Documents	p. xvi
Preface	p. xix
Introduction	p. xxiii
The Ocean Shall Unloose the Bonds of Things	p. 1
Antecedents: The Americas, Africa and Europe in the Fifteenth Century	p. 6
Commencement: The European Opening of the Atlantic Ocean	p. 52
Conquests: Forging the Iberian Empires in Africa and the Americas	p. 105
Realms: The Overseas Empires of Spain and Portugal	p. 161
Europe Supported by Africa and America	p. 209
Incursions: The French, English and Dutch Invasions of the Iberian Atlantic	p. 214
Engagement: The Entangled Worlds of Indians and Europeans	p. 273
Uprooted: West Africa, the Americas and the Atlantic Slave Trade	p. 326
Bondage: The Atlantic Plantation Complex and the Cultures of Slavery	p. 373
Partners: Women and Men in the Making of the Atlantic World	p. 420
A New Order of the Ages	p. 465
Rivals: Great Britain and France in the Long Eighteenth Century	p. 472
Liberty: The Atlantic World in the Age of Revolution	p. 517
Equality: The Atlantic World in the Age of Revolution	p. 567
Freedom: The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade and New World Slavery	p. 615
Epilogue	p. 661
Glossary	p. 667
Select Bibliography	p. 675
Index	p. 699
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