Introduction: Beyond Atlantic History

Abstract

In recent years, the most important contributions to the New Atlantic History have come from British and American historians, and have revolved especially around the history of the British Atlantic Empire.¹ Even taking into account histories of the Atlantic-based empires of Spain, Portugal and France, continental Europe has thus remained very much on the sidelines.² From the point of view of intellectual history, too, historical studies of the Atlantic world of the eighteenth century have been rather ‘Anglocentric’. This is because the success of the Atlantic republican tradition has led to the idea that Anglo-American political thought in the modern age is very much of a unity; consequently scant regard has been granted to the contributions made in this field by continental Europe.³