Atlantic History Center
Atlantic
history is a cutting-edge field of historical scholarship and teaching.
It focuses on the connections between the regions around the Atlantic Ocean
from the Columbian Exchange in the late fifteenth-century to the
mid-nineteenth century global race for empire. During this time, the
intense transatlantic movement of people, commodities and ideas integrated
Africa, Europe and the Americas. Traditionally, scholarship devoted to this
time period and these regions has been restricted by relatively narrow
geographical boundaries (the nation-state, a single colonial empire, or a
continent). Atlantic history has emerged in recent decades to overcome some
of the shortcomings of these older approaches. Building on existing studies
of colonial empires and the growing number of monographs focusing on
particular regions on both sides of the ocean, Atlantic history offers a
more integrated view of the multiple interactions between Africans,
Europeans and Native Americans. The aim is to help create a community
of scholars familiar with approaches, archives, and intellectual traditions
different from their own and ultimately to further international
understanding.