The Atlantic in World History

The Atlantic in World History The Atlantic in World History tells the story of the emergence of an integrated Atlantic world after 1492 and the way lives in all four continents were transformed. Novel products, especially foods, made lives better, but intensive labor systems, especially slavery, ruined many lives. Plantation agriculture and intensified trade fed industrial processes and led to modern economic and political regimes. As the Atlantic Ocean was transformed from a terrifying barrier into a highway uniting four continents, the lives of people all around the ocean were transformed. After 1492 merchants and political leaders around the Atlantic refocused their attention from trade highways in their interiors to the coasts. Those who emigrated, willingly or unwillingly, had their lives changed completely, but many others became involved in new trades and industries that necessitated consolidation of populations. American gold and silver contributed to the emergence of nation-states. New foods enriched diets all over the world. American foods such as fish, cassava, maize, tomatoes, beans, and cacao fed burgeoning populations. Sugar grown around the Atlantic transformed tastes everywhere. Tobacco was the first great consumer craze. Furs provided the raw material for fashionable broad hats. Chains of commodity exchange linked the Atlantic to the Pacific; they also linked Americans to the Mediterranean and the goods of the Middle East. Creation of Atlantic economies required organization of labor and trade on a scale previously unknown. Generations of Europeans who signed up for servitude for a number of years in order to pay their passage over were gradually supplanted by enslaved Africans, millions of whom were imported into slavery. Wars, fueled by the need for ever more slaves, spread throughout West and Central Africa. The African end of the slave trade produced powerful rulers and great confederations in Africa. Consolidation of displaced tribal groups and remnants of populations deple Autor: Karen Ordahl (Silver Professor of History Kupperman Wydawnictwo: Oxford University Press Rok wydania: 2012 Okładka: twarda Liczba stron: 168 Wymiary: 16 x 23.6 x 1.5 cm Ilustracje: 24 bw halftones, 2 maps Język: angielski ISBN: 9780195160741