Atlantic Lives

Atlantic Lives offers insight into the lived experiences of a range of actors in the early modern Atlantic World. Organized thematically, each chapter features primary source selections from a variety of non-traditional sources, including travel narratives from West Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The fully revised and expanded second edition goes into even greater depth in exploring the diverse roles and experiences of women, Native Americans, and Africans, as well as the critical theme of emerging capitalism and New World slavery. New chapters also address captivity experiences, intercultural religious encounters, and interracial sexuality and marriage. With classroom-focused discussion questions and suggested additional readings accompanying each chapter, Atlantic Lives provides students with a wide-ranging introduction to the many voices and identities that comprised the Atlantic World.

Timothy J. Shannon is Professor of History at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Preface Preface to the Second Edition Introduction: What Is Atlantic History? Chapter 1: Into the Atlantic Crucible Selection 1: An Early Portuguese Encounter with West Africans Selection 2: First News of Native Americans in Europe Selection 3: An Indian Perspective on the Europeans' Arrival in North America Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 2: The Columbian Exchange Selection 1: An Elizabethan Scientist Admires Indian Agriculture Selection 2: The Exchange of Furs and Microbes in New France Selection 3: A Military Officer Contemplates Life in a Beaver Lodge Selection 4: Black Philadelphians Face a Yellow Fever Epidemic Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 3: Captivities Selection 1: A German Soldier Fears being Cannibalized by his Native American Captors Selection 2: The Captivities of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas Selection 3: A Pennsylvania Woman's Adoption into an Indian Family Selection 4: An African-American Sailor's Serial Captivities Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 4: Religion and Conversion Selection 1: A Revolt among Mission Indians in New Mexico Selection 2: Native American Converts in Seventeenth-Century Canada Selection 3: A Christian Indian Challenges His Colonial Mentor Selection 4: An African American's Conversion Experience during the Great Awakening Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 5: West Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade Selection 1: A Scottish Explorer Describes Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa Selection 2: A European Describes a Slave-Trading Post Selection 3: A Former Slave Remembers his Enslavement in Africa Selection 4: A Surgeon Describes Conditions on a Slave Ship Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 6: The Plantation Complex in the Caribbean Selection 1: Servants, Slaves, and Masters in Barbados Selection 2: A Description of African Maroon Communities Selection 3: A Former Slave Condemns the Inhumanity of Caribbean Slavery Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 7: The Spanish and Portuguese in the Americas Selection 1: An English Traveler Explains the Repartimiento System in Spanish America Selection 2: An Italian Priest Describes Social Relations in Mexico City Selection 3: A Description of Plantation Society in Portuguese Brazil Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 8: The Dutch, French, and English in North America Selection 1: An Dutch Traveler in New Netherland/New York, 1679-80 Selection 2: A French Military Officer Describes the Indians of Canada, 1757 Selection 3: Benjamin Franklin Calculates the Population of British North America Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 9: The Wooden World: Maritime Labor and Piracy Selection 1: A Dutch Pirate in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean Selection 2: A Pirate Faces Execution in Boston Selection 3: An American Sailor Experiences Impressment in the British Navy Selection 4: A Woman's Perception of Life on a Whaling Ship Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 10: The Atlantic Highway: European Migrations Selection 1: An Englishman Enters into an Indenture Selection 2: A German Migrant's Passage to America Selection 3: A French Account of a Passage to Canada Selection 4: Two Scottish Opinions on the Emigration Experience Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 11: Interracial Marriage and Sexuality in the Atlantic World Selection 1: A French Nun Remarks on Native American Women Selection 2: A Scottish Woman's Impressions of Gender and Sexual Relations in the British West Indies and North Carolina Selection 3: Interracial Intimacy in the Fur Trade Selection 4: An Interracial Marriage Causes Controversy in New England Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 12: Enlightenment and Revolution Selection 1: A French Expatriate Describes Colonial Society in British North America Selection 2: A Trans-Atlantic Revolutionary's Attack on Monarchy and Aristocracy Selection 3: An Anti-Slavery Advocate Defends the Slave Rebels in Saint-Domingue Selection 4: A Creole Revolutionary's Vision for the Future of Spanish America Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chapter 13: Out of the Atlantic Crucible Selection 1: A German Traveler Describes the Race-Based Social Order of Mexico Selection 2: A French Traveler Considers the Future of Race Relations in the United States of America Selection 3: A Free Black's Incendiary Call for the Destruction of Slavery Selection 4: A Native American Challenges the Pilgrim Story Discussion Questions Suggested Readings Chronology of Important Events in Atlantic World History