Ms.Olivi's AP World - Homework
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..• The Atlantic System as it developed in the Seventeenth and eighteenth century encompassed a broad range of economic, environmental, cultural, and political interactions. How were African economic and political systems integrated into the plantation system? What were the effects of that interaction into the Atlantic plantation system? What were the effects of this interaction on Africans and African societies? On the eve of the slave trade, African history was unfolding in diverse ways. Most Africans lived in small societies were they farmed, tended their livestock, raised their children, and managed their own affairs through discussion and consensus. Large African states also arose from the cultural and economic interchange between economic groups, as in the Great Lakes, or from trade across ecological frontiers, as the Sahel. When African states were in direct contact with Asia and Europe, as in the Songhai E2!!pir_e_and-S\vahili city __ -states,jt-was-m-ost ofteil ~tlirough Muslim routes of trade and pilgrimage. The rise of the Atlantic slave system transformed those African societies, especially in West Africa, into siIppliers or sources of slaves- for American Plantations. While wealth and power went to those Africans who seized the opportunity to benefit from slavery and the trade, participation in the Atlantic system left much of Africa more violent, insecure, and less productive than before.
Transcript of Ms.Olivi's AP World - Homework
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The Atlantic System as it developed in the Seventeenth andeighteenth century encompassed a broad range of economic,environmental, cultural, and political interactions.
How were African economic and political systems integratedinto the plantation system? What were the effects of thatinteraction into the Atlantic plantation system? What werethe effects of this interaction on Africans and Africansocieties?
On the eve of the slave trade, African history was unfoldingin diverse ways. Most Africans lived in small societies werethey farmed, tended their livestock, raised their children,and managed their own affairs through discussion andconsensus. Large African states also arose from the culturaland economic interchange between economic groups, as inthe Great Lakes, or from trade across ecological frontiers, asthe Sahel. When African states were in direct contact with
Asia and Europe, as in the Songhai E2!!pir_e_and-S\vahili city__ -states,jt-was-m-ost ofteil ~tlirough Muslim routes of trade and
pilgrimage. The rise of the Atlantic slave systemtransformed those African societies, especially in WestAfrica, into siIppliers or sources of slaves- for AmericanPlantations. While wealth and power went to those Africanswho seized the opportunity to benefit from slavery and thetrade, participation in the Atlantic system left much ofAfrica more violent, insecure, and less productive thanbefore.
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What were the major social and econOlllic features. of theplantation complex in the West Indies and the Americanmainland? What cultural patterns were associated withforced African migration to the Americas?
The Plantation complex of the Atlantic World, especially thesugar plantations of the West Indies, represented somethingnew in world history: an agro-industrial enterprise gearedspecifically for commercial export marketss Sugar plantersimported most of their labor, food, and equipment andfocused on producing a single crop for distant markets. ASa resJfit, sugar became an essential part of the Europeandiet. The cultural outcomes of the plantation system werecomplex. As in the mainland colonies, new societies emergedfrom the mixture of African, Amerindian, and Europeancultural and biological elements..,Maroon communities wereone form of resistance. On the ocean, fishermen, pirates andeven slaves like Olaudah Equiano sometin1es found greatopportunities.
_How Did the Plantation Complex Affect Political andEconomic developmentS-iii-Europe in the-EighteenthCentury?
Event~the Atlantic reinforced the shifting balance ofpower in Europe. Buoyed by the profits from sugar, theFrench and British became key players in the Europeanpower struggle by the late seventh century. Economiccompetition in the Age of Mercantilism set them into aconflict that culminated in the Seven Year's War (1756-
1763), fought not only in the Atlantic but also in NorthAmerica, continental Europe, and South Asia. Britishvictory IeJto British mastery of the seas.
