Exploring The Atlantic World

An Experiment In Teaching An Emerging Paradigm

Abstract

"The Atlantic World" is an emerging perspective in early American history, one that blends nicely with contemporary interest in globalization. ¹ This field is an exploration of connections that formed among Africa, Europe, and the Americas between c. 1500 and c. 1800, not only of the political and economic links engendered by colonization, but also the ecological, social, and cultural impacts of initial contact and subsequent interconnections. At the same time, scholars are exploring comparative history within the region, particularly through seminal topics such as gender and religion. Historians thus far have found the paradigm stimulating. For example, the model offers hope of rescuing English history from critics who accuse it of insularity and African history from those who would continue to ignore that vast continent's active role in world history. Yet it is also a conceptualization whose implications are only beginning to be worked out by European, African, and American historians.