Globalization, the ever-increasing interconnectedness of

the world, is not a new phenomenon, but it accelerated when western

Europeans discovered the riches of the East. During the Crusades

(1095–1291), Europeans developed an appetite for spices, silk,

porcelain, sugar, and other luxury items from the East, for which they

traded fur, timber, and Slavic people they captured and sold (hence the

word slave). But when the Silk Road, the

long overland trading route from China to the Mediterranean, became

costlier and more dangerous to travel, Europeans searched for a more

efficient and inexpensive trade route over water, initiating the

development of what we now call the Atlantic World.

In

pursuit of commerce in Asia, fifteenth-century traders unexpectedly

encountered a “New World” populated by millions and home to

sophisticated and numerous peoples. Mistakenly believing they had

reached the East Indies, these early explorers called its inhabitants

“Indians.” West Africa, a diverse and culturally rich area, soon entered

the stage as other nations exploited its slave trade and brought its

peoples to the New World in chains. Although Europeans would come to

dominate the New World, they could not have done so without Africans and

Native peoples