The African Atlantic islands in maritime history during the Ancien Régime
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Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
info
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, España
ISSN: 0843-8714
Année de publication: 2018
Volumen: 30
Número: 4
Pages: 634-648
Type: Article
D'autres publications dans: International journal of maritime history
Résumé
This paper aims at describing and explaining certain common characteristics that have endured in the African Atlantic islands by virtue of the fact that these islands depend on centres of authority located at considerable distances away. Their location on linking routes to three continents led to the first globalization since the world economic shifts of the 16th century. The islands have sometimes been described metaphorically as a bridge, but we prefer to speak of maritime doors. These islands have been an entrance and exit for goods, people, culture, and ideas, opened or closed, depending on your point of view, through the modern age as European penetration spread. It includes the archipelagos of the Middle Atlantic, the cases of Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Verde, São Tomé, and Principe, and the Guinea Islands of Bioko, Corisco, and Annobon.