POSTS – Page 26 – Atlantic History

Atlantic World Chapter 5

October 2, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

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This chapter explains three sections of European production and expansion through labor, migration, and settlement. I think the reason Europeans wanted to succeed in the Atlantic because they chose to recruit indentured men and women to join other free Europeans to travel to America to expand colonies, production, create settlements, and seek opportunities for social and commercial increase. Although many indentured men and women spread diseases through Europe to decrease their travel to America, however, many Europeans continued their journey to America and gained through migration through larger and richer territories along with large amounts of merchant goods to use for production in America. As a result of European migrant workers, this created five categories of settlements around the Atlantic World including urban areas, trading posts, missionary villages, plantations, and family-centered productive units. (Chapter 5, Page 168). In my opinion, the Europeans creation of the Dutch East India Company in Southern Africa in 1652, where they developed a plantation to produce sugar, cotton, and coffee. (Chapter 5, Page 170). By the 1630s, the English established another settlement called “The Transatlantic Family Enterprise” located in New England, where they produced plantations, family production areas, and religion. One of the best examples of migration was a group of women called “Holy Women.” European women ventured to the Americas to convert to Christianity, the Ursulines and the Augstines travelled to New France in Canada by 1639. The reason these women came to America was to create hospitals to cure any diseases that occurred in recent events and convert education to indigenous women and children. (Chapter 5, Page 180). By the first two centuries, the Europeans became a stronger force because of their expansion through America, migrating indentured people for production, and settlements that established the Europeans colonies through expansion in America.

This reminds me of what Enrique Angulo explained in the last reading “A Search of Sovereignty” relating to African diseases from that decreased the amount of European Travelers just as European diseases effected travelling to the New World, however, the other European Travelers continued to travel to the New World and America.

European Emergence in Atlantic Spaces

October 2, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

As Atlantic spaces began to experience dramatic shifts in structure and population, Europeans began to attain more prominence in their territories. Commerce among settlement and religious freedom were major factors in shaping the demographics of the Atlantic world. The constant demand for goods exported through trade relied on a labor force of indigenous, enslaved, and European populations (Egerton, 150). People of color were forced to do dangerous backbreaking work and whites in authority exercised total control over them (Egerton, 160). Indentured servants migrated to Atlantic spaces hoping to make a living and gain freedom in new lands (Egerton, 164). Mass migrations of these Europeans eventually led to settlement after their term ended, increasing white populations and leaving a serious impact on indigenous groups. As more native people faltered due to disease and attacks from whites, there were more opportunities for outsiders to claim Atlantic spaces as their own. Trading posts and settlements were used by Europeans to increase their profits in trade, and they maintained relations with native groups if only briefly (Egerton, 168). Lastly, families and religious groups migrated to the Atlantic in search for religious freedom. Prejudice and religious intolerance led Jewish people and Europeans to other countries to practice their religion in a safer place (Egerton, 179). By migrating to North America or other parts of the Atlantic, religious groups began to populate more spaces and further diversify religion. Across centuries, Europeans managed to not only establish great prominence in the Atlantic, but to alter its demographic makeup in dramatic ways.

I agree with Shreshta’s point on Europeans implementing laws to gain superiority over indigenous peoples. The Spanish’s Requirement of 1510 is an example of a law meant to force indigenous people in the Americas to acknowledge authority and risk punishment if they did not (Egerton, 151). Various European groups have initiated laws to gain control over their subjects, and targeted anyone who dared to question their prominence. Chapter Five also reminded me of Stephanie Smallwood’s “African Guardians,” where European masters used African slaves to exercise control over the rest of the slaves on the ship. Both the chapter and the article explain the dynamics of power in the Atlantic. Indigenous peoples exercised great power in their homelands before Europeans established colonies in their territory, and native populations experienced a severe decline not long afterwards.

Christopher Columbus Discover America

October 1, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

My final project topic will focus on Christopher Columbus’s journey and discovery to America in 1492. I chose this topic for my final project because I am interested of learning how Christopher Columbus was able recruit people to help him travel around the Atlantic and discover the Americas during that time. The context of this topic will focus on the people that Columbus recruited and received help from various people around the Atlantic. This will also focus on how he made deals with various groups that Columbus used to get help him towards America. I am interested how Columbus was able to communicate with people and groups speaking various languages and how he got along with various indigenous people from around the World. I look forward to learn more about Christopher Columbus’ journey through the Atlantic to America.

Final Project Topic

September 30, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

My topic will explore the way in which Native Americans affected river exploration for early explorers in the Americas. This can include their navigation efforts on ships, and the treatment that was experienced on these ships.

Final Paper Topic

September 29, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

I chose a topic of great interest to me in Atlantic History: Pirate Weaponry. I’m interested in it because when the English and Dutch raided Spanish ships, they needed something to plunder and pillage the riches the Spanish had below deck and I’m also fascinated with the history of weaponry over time. I’m ready to read about how pirate weaponry evolved over time as they sought to build their empires. I’m looking forward to doing a final paper about the swashbuckling raiders of the Atlantic and the tools of their vicious trade.

Treacherous Places

September 28, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

In Chapter 2 of Lauren Benton’s Work A Search for Sovereignty the establishment of European riverside expeditions is discussed. These expeditions were established on the idea that travelling alongside the rivers of the African continent and the “New World” would prove to be lucrative as well as provide the opportunity for exploration. In reality these expeditions proved to be quite treacherous in more ways than one. The terrain of these environments proved to be quite hazardous resulting in many expeditions resulting in failure and the harsh environment seemed to embolden some of the lower ranking members of the expeditionary teams making insurrection and treason common. In an attempt to curb the number of mutinies, public execution of traitors became standard. This made sure that potential mutineers knew what they were getting themselves into. To top it all off since the European expedition teams were heading into unknown territory, they had to rely on native guides which is strange as my peer Tyler points out because, they did not trust them and thought of them as being inferior. This false sense of superiority makes native peoples an odd shoulder to lean on.

On a personal note Lauren Benton seems to have an odd set of interests if she is writing works that involve both roman laws and colonial era commerce. Despite her love for the study of colonial era commerce she seems to have forgotten the one thing that prevented Europeans from trading with the African continent for the longest time, disease. Malaria and other African born diseases decimated European explorers almost as hard as European born diseases rocked the new world, yet they receive very little attention in this chapter.

The Importance of Rivers in Treason and Colonial Expansion

September 28, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

In this reading, Benton discusses river exploration and its importance in shaping and advancing other European laws and policies such as treason within European empires. As Europeans discovered new areas, such as Africa and the New World, they quickly realized the value of river travel. While river trade in Africa proved challenging and difficult at first, Europeans discovered an effective strategy to control the rivers and trade (pg. 45). When Europeans began to settle the New World and establish trade routes and settlements, they looked to the examples they previously had from Europe and Africa. They quickly found that the New World rivers were nothing like those of Africa or Europe, and they also quickly discovered how difficult they were to navigate. Explorers were often confused and lacked the proper knowledge to navigate the region, causing the rivers to become very deadly. Further reliance on Indians proved unstable, with the Indians often sabotaging Europeans (pg. 53).

It is in these rivers that Benton argues that treason began to have power (pg. 68). Benton backs this concept up using the life of Bemoim, an African king who instructed Portuguese to build a fort on an estuary, which was unfamiliar river territory for the Portuguese. As Portuguese at the fort grew sick and died, Bemoim was blamed and executed for treason (pg. 65). While stories like these were not necessarily a commonplace, Benton argues that they were vastly important in understanding the advancement of European laws and power. He further equates unfamiliarity of rivers and inland water with the rise in use of treason. In the pursuit of gold, riches, and land, Europeans used treason as a method to dispose of that stood in their way (pg. 86). Benton backs this concept up using evidence from Bacon’s Rebellion. It was there that Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion against the Governor in an attempt to gain political power (pg. 98). Through examples such as this, it is clear that there was a progression in the use of treason for political gain.

Allison Robert argues rivers were a symbol of land ownership, which I agree with. Rivers were important in European expansion, as they allowed for travel to other regions. Their importance is largely the reason for the creation of treason laws, which were in turn expanded to be used in any case involving individuals that got in the way of political, economic, or land expansion.

A Search for Sovereignty

September 28, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Lauren Benton describes the commercial advantages of inland river areas discovered (and fought over) by Atlantic Europeans. This book dealt with colonial European entities that feuded over various complex river systems along, or close to, the Atlantic coast. Tales of mutiny and communal corruption arise from the Mississippi and Amazon on one side of the Atlantic to the vast river valleys of West and Central Africa on the other. Both namely the Spanish and the English struggled with trying to keep loyalty among their colonial subjects intact overseas. The betrayal of Cabeza de Vaca by his military followers demonstrates the continual tradition of feuding for land and surplus in Renaissance Europe. The viceroyalties that erupted among the northwestern coasts of South America served to install a geographical checkpoint for the Spanish, still questioning whether a passage to the East was doable sailing westward from where they were at.

As a pretext to the assertion of certain Native peoples preserving riches and certain trading prospects within their habitat, the colonial powers of Europe administered laws and policies overseas to ensure competence in Native cooperation. They also adhered to Roman law to install governmental outposts among trade landmarks dispersed all over the Atlantic. As my colleague http://hist410.aloberts.com/blog/uncategorized/rivers-and-treason-the-european-way/ posted this week, they used rivers as a symbol of land ownership and as a way to show that they plan to explore more areas. “Old World” tradition and adaptation was key in visualizing the balance of power between royalty and mercantilism in Atlantic river systems.

Treacherous Places

September 28, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Lauren Benton begins her chapter “Treacherous Places” with a quote from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: “The big trees were kings.” She later states that to open with Conrad is needed to express the grandeur rivers and landscapes of colonized lands are portrayed with in European literature. Benton explains that Conrad’s Heart of Darkness mystifies the Congo River, urging readers to think about the potential evils Africa and its people hid beneath its surface (Benton, 41). Similarly, European texts about the Atlantic also fantasize about landscape, but rather than creating an ominous idea, these writings describe the unknown terrain and rivers with potential and hope.

According to Benton, rivers played an essential role in the colonization of Atlantic territory and the expansion of European empires. To defend claims, Roman Law was implemented and available across the Atlantic: “[Europeans] depended on Justinian’s Institutes in applying, by analogy, forms of acquiring property to claims for sovereign control over territory” (Benton, 55). The results of implementing Western guidelines were fortification, mapping, and other forms over marking territory throughout the Atlantic. According to Derek Taylor in Navigation and Murder on the “Saltwater Frontier”, “Europeans believed they were master navigators for having traveled across the Atlantic Ocean (Lipman 274) but, the Native Americans were no strangers to navigation.” When first arriving in the Atlantic, European sailors believed that through Roman Law, they could implement a superior form of conquest and colonization. While Europeans viewed Native Americans as barbaric and savage, Native settlers had the tools and skills necessary for navigation; the differences in the two cultures and practices led to a superiority-inferiority complex between Europeans and Native Americans. I found Taylor’s statement insightful, and it serves as an excellent connection between European navigation and colonization, and Native American prejudice and oppression.

Benton concludes her chapter by stating that the geography of the Atlantic contributed to the legalities put in place by Europeans. While in an unknown and unfamiliar environment, Europeans realized that laws and codes were not enough to gain control of the land. Instead, subjecting the terrain and waters to Roman law and creating property guidelines allowed Europeans to successfully conquer the Atlantic. Through estuary enclaves, river networks, and even literary grandeur regarding land, Europeans created sovereign spaces that merged treacherous natural territory with Western legal practices (Benton, 103).

Rivers, Roman Law, and Obscurity

September 28, 2016December 16, 2020Dr. Shrout

Leave it to an historian to find the two most obscure topics they can think of, smash them together like two different colors of play-dough, and hope, not only that the result makes sense historically, but that they were the first to breach the idea as well. In the case of Treacherous Places, Lauren Benton’s mixed ball of play-dough turned out to be a weird brown color. She successfully tied early riverine exploration together with the conjuring of Roman law in dealing with treason and imperial claims. It makes complete sense. The further ambassadors of the crown were able to venture into the interior of uncharted (by them) territory, the easier it became to serve their own agendas, as opposed to their respective sovereign’s. A harsh punishment was necessary to force future perpetrators to think twice before they acted against the crown. Of course, Europeans had been dealing with treason for centuries prior to Atlantic imperialism and riverine (I like that word) exploration. The Romans laid out the template for future generations to shape and mold around their contemporary societies. As with most law, there may have been too much room for interpretation, so each monarch edited the mandate to fit his or her needs directly. I can’t speak factually, but I imagine this worked out pretty well. Claiming rights were a different ball game. As my esteemed colleague, Allison, points out, “they used rivers as a symbol of land ownership and a way to show that they plan to explore more areas.” What came to mind as I was reading the chapter, were a couple of old cliches. First come, first serve; or the early bird gets the worm. Benton almost makes it sound like a game, and, again, that is exactly how I imagine it was, only considerably more dangerous than hide and seek.

What makes Benton’s play-dough brown, to me, is the question of why. I guess I just want to know the backstory behind the writing of some of the topics I have to read about. What made her write about rivers in conjunction with Roman law and treason? Additionally, in the discussion of riverine exploration, especially in Africa, I feel one should devote more than three sentences to the most notorious serial killer in that neck of the woods, disease. That also browned the dough for me.