Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800 (Studies in Comparative World History) - Hardcover

Thornton, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521622174 ISBN 13: 9780521622172

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Synopsis

This book explores Africa's involvement in the Atlantic world from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth century. It focuses especially on the causes and consequences of the slave trade, in Africa, in Europe, and in the New World. African institutions, political events, and economic structures shaped Africa's voluntary involvement in the Atlantic arena before 1680. Africa's economic and military strength gave African elites the capacity to determine how trade with Europe developed. Thornton examines the dynamics of colonization which made slaves so necessary to European colonizers, and he explains why African slaves were placed in roles of central significance. Estate structure and demography affected the capacity of slaves to form a self-sustaining society and behave as cultural actors, transferring and transforming African culture in the New World.

About this title

Review

'A major contribution ... the strongest and most articulate statement that Africa and Africans were not passive agents ... provocative and insightful.' Paul E. Lovejoy, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Book Description

This book explores Africa's involvement in the Atlantic world from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth century. It focuses especially on the causes and consequences, economic, political, and cultural, of the slave trade, in Africa, in Europe, and in the New World.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0521622174
• ISBN 13: 9780521622172
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 380