First Atlantic System

(noun)

The part of the slave trade dominated by the Portuguese and Spanish.

Related Terms

Examples of First Atlantic System in the following topics:

  • The Triangular Trade

    • The First Atlantic System is a term used to characterized the Portuguese and Spanish African slave trade to the South American colonies in the 16th century—which lasted until 1580, when Portugal was temporarily united with Spain.
    • During the First Atlantic System, most of these traders were Portuguese, giving them a near-monopoly during the era, although some Dutch, English, and French traders also participated in the slave trade.
    • The Second Atlantic System, from the 17th through early 19th centuries, was the trade of enslaved Africans dominated by British, French, and Dutch merchants.
    • Most Africans sold into slavery during the Second Atlantic System were sent to the Caribbean sugar islands as European nations developed economically slave-dependent colonies through sugar cultivation.
    • The term triangular trade is used to characterize much of the Atlantic trading system from the 16th to early 19th centuries, in which three main commodity-types—labor, crops, and manufactured goods—were traded in three key Atlantic geographic regions.

  • The Setbacks in the Atlantic

    • The Royal Navy quickly introduced a convoy system for the protection of trade that gradually extended out from the British Isles, eventually reaching as far as Panama, Bombay, and Singapore.
    • Some British naval officials, particularly the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, sought a more 'offensive' strategy.
    • The escorting destroyers promptly forced U-39 to surface and scuttled it, becoming the first U-boat loss of the war.
    • In the South Atlantic, British forces were stretched by the cruise of Admiral Graf Spee, which sank nine merchant ships of 50,000 GRT in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans during the first three months of war.
    • After this initial burst of activity, the Atlantic campaign quieted down.

  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

    • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949.
    • The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
    • These new negotiations resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1949.
    • For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association; the first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down."
    • In September 1952, the first major NATO maritime exercises began; Exercise Mainbrace brought together 200 ships and over 50,000 personnel to practice the defence of Denmark and Norway.

  • The Rise of the African Slave Trade

    • The crews of several European ships were killed by African sailors whose boats were better equipped at traversing the West African coasts and river systems.
    • The Spanish were the first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New World on islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola.
    • The alarming death rate experienced by the indigenous population had spurred the first royal Spanish laws protecting them, and consequently, the first enslaved Africans arrived in Hispaniola in 1501.
    • There, Dutch traders brought the first enslaved Africans in 1619.
    • Examine how economic desires gave birth to and perpetuated the Atlantic slave trade

  • The Atlantic Theater

    • The blockade was established on both the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.
    • The interdiction of coastal traffic meant that long-distance travel depended on the rickety railroad system, which never overcame the devastating impact of the blockade.
    • The first victory for the U.S.
    • Early battles in support of the blockade enabled the Union Navy to extend its blockade gradually southward along the Atlantic seaboard.
    • Describe the effects of the Union Blockade and the greater Anaconda Plan of the Atlantic Theater.

  • The Battle of the Atlantic

    • The name "Battle of the Atlantic" was coined by Winston Churchill in February 1941.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war.
    • The code was first broken by the Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau in December 1932—with the aid of French-supplied intelligence material that had been obtained from a German spy.
    • Its effectiveness contributed to German successes also during the Battle of the Atlantic.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic was won by the Allies in two months.

  • Economic Nationalism

    • The "American System," a term synonymous with "National System" and "Protective System," was a system of economics that represented the legacy of Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury under George Washington's presidency.
    • Other programs included the assignment of army engineer officers to assist or direct the surveying and construction of early railroads and canals; the establishment of the First and Second Banks of the United States; and various protectionist measures such as the Tariff of 1828.
    • The American System was supported by New England and the Mid-Atlantic; these states had a large manufacturing base, and the System protected their new factories from foreign competition.
    • The South, however, opposed the American System.
    • Henry Clay is considered the Father of the American System of economics.

  • Archaeology and History

    • Exactly when the first group migrated to the Americas is the subject of much debate.
    • The first is the short chronology theory, with the first movement beyond Alaska into the Americas occurring no earlier than 14,000 to 17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of migration.
    • The theory envisions these people making the crossing between the continents in small boats via the edge of the pack ice in the North Atlantic Ocean that then extended to the Atlantic coast of France, using skills similar to those of the modern Inuit people.
    • The archaeological record in the Americas is divided into five phases according to an enduring system established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology.
    • This system contrasts from old-world prehistory in which the terms Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age are generally used.

  • The Spreading Conflict

    • The result of the Congress was the Continental Association, which was a system for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain.
    • The Continental Association was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain.
    • The Petition to the King was also formed during the First Continental Congress and sent to George III of Great Britain.
    • However, the British retaliated by blocking colony access to the North Atlantic Fishing Area.
    • Examine how the approach of the Second Continental Congress differed from the First

  • The Colonial Elite

    • In New England and the mid-Atlantic colonies, the elite were wealthy farmers or urban merchants; in the South, they were wealthy planters.
    • Many New Englanders took part in a sophisticated system of trade in which they exported products to the West Indies, where they were traded for molasses, sugar, gold coins, and bills of exchange (credit slips).
    • Other New England merchants took advantage of the rich fishing areas along the Atlantic coast.
    • Mount Vernon was the plantation home of George Washington, who was a member of the Virginia gentry class prior to becoming the first U.S. president.