Introduction

The European consumer demands made the Atlantic an ocean of slave traders and started an economic exploitation process whose impacts, such as global diasporas and extreme poverty in regions of the so-called Global South, remain visible. The Atlantic trade was definitely as much pan-European as it was pan-American, and soon would include the Pacific World as well. “Western Africa was pulled more firmly into the Atlantic orbit than large parts of Europe” and was forced to provide the human factor needed in the New World to keep the stream of commodity supplies running. The Atlantic World was maybe the first laboratory for a broader globalization process and therefore deserves further attention. The process of globalization, not only with regard to its impacts and effects in Europe, is worth studying to show how and why societies have changed during this specific process. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.