The Transnational and International History of the Atlantic World

The Transnational and International History of the Atlantic World
Atlantic history is the interaction and relationship among the people connected by the Atlantic Ocean between the 15th and 19th centuries. These people came from Europe, America, and Africa. The Atlantic Ocean is a crucial figure in Atlantic History because it connected the regions through themes like colonialism, migration, slave trade, interregional trade and wars of independence. Based on this definition, Atlantic History encompasses three sections; transnational, international and regional or national history within the Atlantic World History context. This class' readings, presentations and videos in this course illuminate my definition and reflect the concepts, contours, and focus of Atlantic World History by describing it in the three phases mentioned.
The transnational history of the Atlantic world, also called the Circum-Atlantic history, presents the Atlantic as a zone of transmission and circulation, interchange and exchange. It provides the history of the ocean as the point of focus that brought life to the interconnected continents; America, Africa, and Europe. Therefore, transnational history encompasses the history of the people who crossed the Atlantic Ocean, lived on its shores and participated in commercial activities with other people. It also includes the ideas these people contributed to in the new land, diseases and the animals they carried and the plants they transplanted.[Games, Alison. "Atlantic History: Definitions, Challenges, and OpportunitiesAlison GamesAtlantic History." The American Historical Review 111, no. 3 (2006): 746]
The international history of the Atlantic world, also called the trans-Atlantic history, is the Atlantic history drawn through comparisons. People travelled from one region to another, carrying along their economic, political and social practices. In the process, they introduced them in the regions where they settled, fusing with the natives' practices or assimilating them. For example, the Portuguese, British, Spanish and other European people travelled to America and Africa and introduced their political and socioeconomic practices to the regions. Trans-Atlantic history compares the histories of these groups connected by the Atlantic Ocean. Making these comparisons ensures that Atlantic historians draw a meaningful connection between the communities around the Atlantic region. Therefore, the transnational history of the Atlantic world focuses on the Atlantic Ocean shores and assumes the existence of states, communities and socioeconomic activiti...