Introduction

In recent years, the concept of Atlantic World history has been a popular scholarly organizing principle among historians. Many of the works that successfully take on a broader Atlantic World perspective focus on certain aspects of this ocean system such as slave trade, colonization, empire, the role of Africa in the Atlantic World. The cultural interchanges among the peoples of the Atlantic World were significantly influenced by the interactions and transactions among Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans. The Global Atlantic does not question the usefulness of the Atlantic World as a scholarly organizing principle. There are many dynamics that drove and shaped the history of this region, and historians will benefit greatly from closely studying these phenomena and developments in a trans-Atlantic perspective. Finally the chapter also presents an overview of key concepts such as the role that Africa played in making of a Global Atlantic, Spanish Empire, connections of Global Atlantic that are discussed in the subsequent chapters.