Encounters of the Atlantic System

The Atlantic System started when Europeans began exploring new lands. Voyages and discoveries began to change the flow of the world, and the people of four continents became integrated. This European expansion seemed to have produced strong mental and emotional effects on the Africans and Native Americans. It must have been difficult to suddenly conform to other ways of living. The Native Americans were segregated for more than a thousand years, so it was probably …

…isolated for thousands of years until the Atlantic System took effect. The encounters of the early modern period show patterns in the relationships among the Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans. There are still many racial problems that go on today. For example, people still bring up the fact that white people were once slaveholders and black people were slaves. The Atlantic System played a large role in making our society the way it is today.