The Atlantic System and Its Consequences

1700–1750

The growth of European domestic economies and overseas colonization during the eighteenth century infused Europe with money, new products, and a new sense of optimism about the future. Yet, as the first document illustrates, the good times came at a horrible price for millions of African slaves who formed the economic backbone of the Atlantic system by toiling on plantations in New World colonies. Meanwhile, Europeans back home enjoyed slave-produced goods. New forms of social interaction emerged hand in hand with new consumption patterns, most notably at coffeehouses. The second document gives us a flavor of early coffeehouse culture in London, where these establishments first appeared in Europe. Changes were also under way on the political front, with the stabilization of the European state system. Consequently, states such as Russia shone more brightly over the political landscape while others lost their luster. The third document set illuminates Tsar Peter I’s diverse strategies for transforming Russia into a great power closely modeled on its western European counterparts. The fourth and fifth documents reveal that intellectual circles were also ablaze with change as scholars and writers cast political, social, and religious issues in a new critical and secular light.