Cultural Encounters in Atlantic History, 1500-1825: Passages in Europe's Engagement with the West

Encounters among the peoples of the Atlantic World in the early modern period provide a wide-ranging perspective on all aspects of the emerging societies in America. The essays in this volume, written by young historians exploring fresh aspects of this subject, range from colonial mésalliances in French America to the efforts of linguistic interpreters in Brazil, from the Spanish-Ute alliances in the Great Basin to the cultural impact of Franciscan missionary theaters in Mexico, from the trading activities of the British in Panama to Swedish relations with the Lenape on the Delaware, and to race conflict in Mexico. They explore a universe of cultural encounters as Europeans and Americans came to terms with each other in the three centuries after the initial contacts. Interactions occurred at many levels--among races and nationalities and among ethnic, regional, religious, and linguistic groups--with influences and modifications that spread in multiple directions, not only East to West but in wide circles throughout the Atlantic Basin. The great variety of these cultural encounters offers a basis for comparative analysis of the ways in which the complex lives of these distant peoples laid the foundations of modern society.