The Global Atlantic provides a concise, lively overview of the complex and diverse history of the greater Atlantic region from 1400 to 1900. During this period, the lands around the Atlantic basin – Europe, Africa, and the Americas – became deeply interconnected in networks of trade, cultural exchange, and geopolitics that reshaped these regions and the world beyond. In this accessible and engaging text, Christoph Strobel integrates the Atlantic into world history, showing that the Atlantic oceanic system was always interlinked with the rest of globe.
From the Mediterranean origins of slave-worked sugar plantations to the Chinese demand for silver from American mines, The Global Atlantic discusses key examples of these connections with clarity, enabling students to understand how existing ideas and incentives shaped the emerging Global Atlantic, and how these Atlantic systems in turn created the world we live in today.
"…through its enjoyable narrative, this book provides a comprehensive and useful overview on the global currents of the Atlantic world."
—José Eudes Gomes, University of Lisbon, Comparativ
"What Christoph Strobel offers in The Global Atlantic is the most concise and readable cure for any ‘Atlanticentrism’ that might be ailing you. Follow his lead, and you’ll discover a truly global ‘New World,’ one that embraces all of the planet’s oceans and continents."
—Carl H. Nightingale, author of Segregation: a Global History of Divided Cities
"The Global Atlantic offers a fresh look at the Atlantic World that should excite both scholars and students. This innovative book integrates the complexities of the Atlantic World into a rich mosaic of global interactions and connections. The Global Atlantic has an accessible style and offers a masterful view of global intersections that shaped and were in turn influenced by the Atlantic World. It is a must for either undergraduate or graduate world history courses."
—David Kalivas, Professor of History, Middlesex Community College, and editor, H-World
"He pays more attention to the intercontinental role of Africa than most authors have previously done, noting that Africa was an active participant as well as a passive recipient in transoceanic economic and cultural encounters. As a quick summary, the book will be useful for teachers of world history and possibly also for students as collateral reading for survey courses. A valuable bibliography shows the author’s careful attention to the most recent interpretations. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries."
- J.C. Perry, Tufts University, CHOICE Review
"Even when the book is an approachable, clear and concise synthesis, the author introduces thought-provoking concepts to his narrative. Strobel is successful in showing a world of multiple vectors simultaneously
acting to shape the early modern world."
—Alvaro Caso-Bello, The Johns Hopkins University, in European History Quarterly
Introduction: Currents of the Global Atlantic
Part I: Trans-Regional Interactions and the Global Atlantic before 1492
1. "Old World" Long Distance Exchange in Europe, Africa, and the Americas
Part II: Navigating the Global Atlantic, 1400-1800
2. Europe, Africa, and the Emergence of the Global Atlantic
3. The Global Atlantic and the "Spanish Sea"
4. The Global Atlantic and the Worlds of the Indian Ocean
Conclusion: The Decline of the Global Atlantic and a New Order of Things