New Collaborations, New Perspectives, New Questions: Sweden and the Modern Atlantic World

Summary

In 1987, symposium participants invoked world systems theory in defining ‘Questions that Count.’ They encouraged us to examine the development of European imperialist hegemony, New World colonialism, capitalism, slavery and disenfranchisement, and environmental degradation, all familiar topics in Atlantic World scholarship today. Cross-cultural, comparative approaches were advocated. Having established this global agenda, most participants turned to methods of implementing it. In practice, the birth of the Atlantic world has been approached until recently as an English-American history supported by Spain, France and the Netherlands. Minor agents such as Portugal, Sweden, or Denmark are seldom acknowledged, and their role in early modern globalization is understudied. In the mid-17th-century, Sweden had an expansive colonial project in North America (New Sweden), trade posts on the African Gold Coast (Cabo Corso) and a colonial agenda in Sápmi (Lapland). This paper discusses these three aspects of the early Atlantic World and its role in the foundation of a modern America and a modern Europe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• Questions that Will Count in the Future: Global Perspectives on Historical Archaeology

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-7,07