Atlantic World Influence

In June 1744, the Iroquois and representatives from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to resolve conflicts and negotiate on agreements. These meetings were called the Covenant Chain.

Throughout time every society has had to address enduring themes with different results. One of these enduring themes is cultural diffusion and trade. This is particularly apparent during the 1500s When Europeans arrived in the new world. It is also apparent when slaves were brought to the New World during the Atlantic Slave Trade. Although cultural diffusion was negative in that it caused the death of many Native Americans overall cultural diffusion was positive in that it increased communication between the New World and the Old World and it brought new crops and raw materials to the Old World.

This decade portrays the exploration of the Europeans to the American colonies which allowed England, France, Holland, Spain, and British to colonize with other lands and obtain power by expanding their territory. Nevertheless, England rose as the country with the dominant colonial power. Throughout this decade, the demand for silver and other valued items influenced trade globally by commercializing and strengthening European trade. In addition, the desire for power and control enriched the economy of the Europeans. The rise of European colonization also shaped cultural globalization since traders established various ethnic societies in foreign regions. European explorers were to stop at nothing in order to achieve success in expanding their

Chapter 2 “The Rise of the Atlantic World” Footholds in North America Spain’s Northern Frontier • Spanish got their New World empire started by crushing Aztecs and Incas • Juan Ponce de Leon o Founded Puerto Rico and Florida o Killed by Native Americans (Calusa) • 300 settlers provoked Apalachee Natives o Split into groups  4 survivors – Cabeza de Vaca and company arrive in Mexico  De Vaca made alliances with Natives along the way  Inspired other Spaniards to go look for gold • Hernando de Soto o In search of gold in Tampa Bay-Appalachian Mtns-southern Plains o Natives confronted him in Mississippi (Maliba)  De Soto won, but his victory cost him lots of resources o Found no gold, but spread diseases that killed Native Americans in Mississippi

There were many changes and continuities within the Atlantic world. The first and biggest change was the change in the caste system in Mexico. The next big change was the slaves in which they exchanged in the Americas. The final change was the change mercantilism to capitalism in Europe.

The study of the Atlantic as an interwoven community is a relatively new theory. Historians are beginning to see Atlantic History as “a sudden and harsh encounter between two old worlds that transformed both and integrated them into a single New World” , and not just separate entities with detached pasts. Atlantic History: Concept and Contours by Bernard Bailyn lays the framework for what Atlantic History is and how it should be studied. Bailyn states that the reasoning behind writing the book is that previous historians focus too much on the imperial history of the Atlantic world, when in fact the colonized areas had just as much of an effect on European powers as Europe had on their colonies. In this concise two part book, Bailyn’s main argument is that the concept of Atlantic History was inevitable because it is impossible to look at any major event of this time period without seeing its effects ripple throughout the entire Atlantic world.

Europe, Africa, and North and South America societies were permanently changed by the movement of goods, people, and wealth in the late 17th and 18th centuries; by doing this it pushed the world closer to globalization. The biggest influence on this drive was referred to as ‘the Atlantic Circuit’, a triangular trade between Western Africa, the West Indies, and Western Europe. This circuit opened up so many industries of agriculture, mostly because of the quick growth of the Atlantic slave trade, but in the end drastically changed the economies of all involved. The Colonization, in combination with the agriculture industries renovated the land of the Americas, and influenced nutrition and diets around the world. Not to mention that the capitalist

The important part of the Atlantic system was the Middle passage because that was a key route for slaves to travel by ships, and the route was from West Indies to the West Africa. Generally, the Sugar Industry did improve the economy which impacted people in a good way because people started connected with each other.

During the 1500’s the Atlantic System served as trading networks connecting Europe, Africa and the Americas. For the purposes of transporting goods to and from the Atlantic basin (Bulliet, 516). A large portion of the Atlantic system was used for the African Slave Trade through what is called the Middle Passage (Bulliet, 516).

It is evident that in 16th century Europe there existed both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas. As it can be said, “With the dawn of the 16th century, there came together in Europe both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas.” This statement is true to a large extent, especially in the areas of trade and technology. The physical means to explore and colonize came from the advances in technology that the Europeans had gone through, allowing them to sail far across the oceans and take over native populations easily. The motivation, on the other hand, came from trade-related reasons, such as the desire to trade new resources, to find gold, and to find new trade routes. Without the technology or trade at the dawn of the 16th century, there would not have been the means nor the motivation for Europeans to explore and colonize the New World.

One of the most significant concepts pervading Atlantic World History is diversity and multicultural interactions. A specific instance where cultural and ethnic diversity resulting in multicultural interactions had an impact on the course of Atlantic World History was the multicultural marriage between Catarina Álavares Paraguacu and Diogo Álvares Correia. “The story of [him and] his wife… illustrate the possibility of cultural fusion in the Atlantic World cultures” . Catarina Álavares Paraguacu and Diogo Álvares Correia were extremely significant to the Atlantic world between 1500 and 1700 as they were the first to illustrate the ideal image of a multicultural interaction; their impact was tremendous on the ethnic diversity between cultures

In the late 1700’s, the main conflict throughout the Atlantic was freedom to all. This period showed many views from different people in ways in which they tried to express the word. People in the America’s and eastern nations such as France were trying to rebuild their nations with an idea that all men are created equal, that they are given the right not from authority, but by birth. From the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” in France which was their laws to give men freedom, to a wealthy man in Venezuela named Simon Bolivar who helped free his country from Spanish rule only to struggle with making his country a federation after the destruction, you see that freedom is hard to concur. Independence cannot only be observed

What is the New World and why is it important? Some may argue that it was the most important trade that ever happened in the World because it created a foundation for what are nowadays seven individual but intermingled continents. It was the first time in history that slaves were gathered and sold across the Atlantic Ocean. Bacon rebellion’s of former indentured servants towards planters caused the shift to African labor. The Atlantic slave trade was unique in its entirely because it was the biggest, most brutal trade in history.

In John K. Thornton’s book, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250 – 1820, Thornton describes the exploration of the western world by powerful European nations. Early on in the text Thornton details the ways early European merchants and explorers discovered the routes across the Atlantic to what would eventually become the Americas. He then lays out the formation and expansion of the slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Throughout all of this Thornton very effectively communicates and disproves any common mistakes or false presumptions readers may have. He continues to do this when he switches his focus from the discovery of the Atlantic world to the colonization of it. Thornton explains how the two major European powers in the Atlantic world at that time, England and Spain, “conquered” and colonized the new world. He especially focuses on the relationships between the native peoples and the incoming Europeans. He explores the ways both groups effected each other. He goes on to state that the way in which the social structure of the European colonies was determine in large measure by the social structure of the indigenous people at the time of European arrival. This serves as Thornton’s thesis of the text and he provides evidence to support his claim. He also mentions that most of the time the story of the Atlantic World is told from an exclusively European perspective. And while he does try to include all aspects in the narrative I’m not totally

As early as the fifteenth century, Europeans began to become eager to discover the New World that was unknown to them. With the concerns of rapid population growth, commerce, new learning, and the rise of competing for nation states, they set out for new adventures and discovery. For a long time, Spain and Portugal were the only European powers with New World colonies.