Interactions in the Atlantic World

The Atlantic World refers not simply to a place, but rather to the connections and interactions between people of Africa, the Americas, and Europe from the "Age of Exploration" in the 15th century through the 19th century. It includes patterns of migrations (forced and voluntary), colonialism, and commerce and stories of transculturation and syncretism, of resistance and incorporation. It is easy to get lost in the Atlantic World, figuratively and literally. Oceanic crossings were literally dangerous for everyone, from the pirates looking for galleons to the passengers hoping for a new life and the enslaved people forced to a strange, terrifying, and violent new land. Figuratively, those of us studying the Atlantic World get lost in the imperial vastness of the Atlantic World, breaking it into territorial claims and holdings: what was French, British, Spanish, etc. And while those empires and their development, policies and conflicts are important, the way people lived and experienced this "new world" and the myriad of daily interactions are equally as important.

These interactions started with the first expeditions, and immediately people all the newly connected continents tried to make sense of one another. Here, you will explore just a few examples of how Indigenous Americans, Europeans, and Africans viewed, thought about, and tried to make sense of one another in those initial encounters.