Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal (Reinterpreting History)

382 Pages·2008·2.73 MB·English

by  Jack D. Greene

Atlantic History
REINTERPRETING HISTORY
Wm. Roger Louis, series editor
The series Reinterpreting History is dedicated to the historian’s craft of chal-
lenging assumptions, examining new evidence, and placing topics of signifi -
cance in historiographical context. Historiography is the art of conveying the
ways in which the interpretation of history changes over time. The vigorous
and systematic revision of history is at the heart of the discipline.
Reinterpreting History is an initiative of the National History Center, which
was created by the American Historical Association in 2002 to advance his-
torical knowledge and to convey to the public at large the historical context
of present-day issues.
Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Local, National, and Transnational
Perspectives ■ EDITED BY Mark Philip Bradley and Marilyn B. Young
Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal ■ EDITED BY Jack P. Greene and
Philip D. Morgan
Atlantic History
A Critical Appraisal
EDITED BY
Jack P. Greene
Philip D. Morgan
1
2009
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Atlantic history : a critical appraisal / edited by Jack P. Greene and Philip D. Morgan.
p. cm. — (Reinterpreting history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-532033-6; 978-9-19-532034-3 (pbk.)
1. Atlantic Ocean Region—Historiography. 2. History, Modern—Historiography.
3. Imperialism—Historiography. I. Greene, Jack P. II. Morgan, Philip D., 1949–
D206.A75 2009
909'.09821072—dc22 2008013694
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
PREFACE
This volume developed out of a session at the 2005 meeting of the A merican
Historical Association in Seattle, which Jack Greene organized, at the
request of Roger Louis, on behalf of the National History Center. Rather
than putting together yet another session on the promise of Atlantic history,
Jack decided that this session might be the occasion for a critical appraisal
of that increasingly popular subject and invited scholars of varying opinions
to present short papers on its merits and utility. Six of the contributors to
this volume participated in that session: Jack served as chair, and Nicholas
Canny, Joyce E. Chaplin, Peter A. Coclanis, Philip D. Morgan, and Carla
Rahn Phillips presented papers that subsequently developed into contribu-
tions to this volume.
The National History Center expected a book to result from this ses-
sion, and Jack and Phil Morgan assumed the task of putting it together.
The editors endeavored to produce a volume that would mirror the con-
temporary organization and functioning of the Atlantic world as it devel-
oped from the fi fteenth through the early nineteenth centuries, a volume
that would acknowledge the many actors involved in the creation of that
world, provide a strong sense of the rich and complex variety of that
world, and be as geographically, culturally, and as temporally inclu-
sive as possible. The editors wanted a volume that would assess the
impact of the New World of the Atlantic upon the Old Worlds around
the Atlantic, and one that would present alternative or complementary
frameworks for analyzing that new Atlantic world. To achieve these
objectives, we found it necessary to recruit seven new participants:
Kenneth Andrien, A. J. R. Russell-Wood, Trevor Burnard, Laurent Dubois,
Benjamin Schmidt, Amy Turner Bushnell, and Peter H. Wood, each of
whom has contributed a chapter.
The editors wish to thank all the authors for their contributions; several
anonymous commentators on the original proposal who made cogent sug-
gestions for expanding and reorganizing the volume; two readers of the fi rst
draft of the manuscript who made a number of concise and constructive
suggestions, many of which the editors and authors have followed to the
vi PREFACE
letter; and Susan Ferber, whose sharp editorial eye made the volume tighter
and more coherent as she shepherded it through the publication process at
Oxford University Press. We also thank Susan Danforth, George S. Parker
Curator of Maps at the John Carter Brown Library, for suggesting the dust-
jacket map, and Joseph Adelman, graduate student at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity, for completing the index.
Jack P. Greene, East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Philip D. Morgan, Baltimore, Maryland
CONTENTS
Contributors ix
Introduction: The Present State of Atlantic History 3
PHILIP D. MORGAN AND JACK P. GREENE
1 The Atlantic Ocean and Its Contemporary
Meanings, 1492–1808 35
JOYCE E. CHAPLIN
PART I: New Atlantic Worlds
2 The Spanish Atlantic System 55
KENNETH J. ANDRIEN
3 The Portuguese Atlantic, 1415–1808 81
A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD
4 The British Atlantic 111
TREVOR BURNARD
5 The French Atlantic 137
LAURENT DUBOIS
6 The Dutch Atlantic: From Provincialism to Globalism 163
BENJAMIN SCHMIDT
PART II: Old Worlds and the Atlantic
7 Indigenous America and the Limits of the
Atlantic World, 1493–1825 191
AMY TURNER BUSHNELL
8 Africa and the Atlantic, c. 1450 to c. 1820 223
PHILIP D. MORGAN
9 Europe and the Atlantic 249
CARLA RAHN PHILLIPS
viii CONTENTS
PART III: Competing and Complementary Perspectives
10 From Atlantic History to a Continental Approach 279
PETER H. WOOD
11 Hemispheric History and Atlantic History 299
JACK P. GREENE
12 Atlantic History and Global History 317
NICHOLAS CANNY
13 Beyond Atlantic History 337
PETER A. COCLANIS
Index 357
CONTRIBUTORS
KENNETH J. ANDRIEN, Humanities Distinguished Professor of History at
The Ohio State University, is currently working on a book on intersection of
ideas, culture, and public policy in the eighteenth-century Spanish Atlantic
Empire.
TREVOR BURNARD, Professor of History, University of Warwick, is work-
ing on a co-authored book comparing mid-eighteenth-century Jamaica and
Saint-Domingue.
AMY TURNER BUSHNELL, Invited Research Fellow, The John Carter Brown
Library, is working on a book about the chiefdom-presidio compact in the
eastern woodlands and the concept of a “reconciled” frontier.
NICHOLAS CANNY, Professor of History and Director of the Moore Institute
at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and President of the Royal
Irish Academy, is currently comparing French with English writing on the
natural history of the Atlantic world 1550–1720.
JOYCE E. CHAPLIN, James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American
History at Harvard University, is currently writing a history of around-the-
world travel, from Magellan the Spanish explorer to Magellan the GPS
system.
PETER A. COCLANIS, Associate Provost for International Affairs and Albert
R. Newsome Professor of History at UNC-Chapel Hill, is currently working
on the international rice trade between c. 1600 and 1940.
LAURENT DUBOIS, Professor of History and Romance Studies at Duke
University, is writing a history of the banjo in the Atlantic world.
JACK P. GREENE, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, Emeritus, Johns Hopkins
University, is working on a book on the languages of empire in eighteenth-
century Britain.
PHILIP D. MORGAN, Harry C. Black Professor, Johns Hopkins University, is
working on a survey of the early modern Caribbean.
ix