Islas atlánticas en el comercio entre América y África en el Antiguo Régimen

Abstract

In the strict geographical sense, the concept of the Middle Atlantic includes not only islands properly speaking, but also oceanic archipelagos, namely the Madeira Islands, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe, the Guinean islands of Bioko (previously known as Fernando Poo), Corisco and Annobon, Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Caribbean archipelago. These archipelagos share characteristics because they are islands, because they depend on seats of government located at a considerable distance, and because they are strategically located in between three continents. From the 16th century on, as the first globalization was taking place, the worldwide economic center moved around and through these archipelagos. These islands have sometimes been metaphorically described as a bridge but we prefer to speak of doors. These islands have constituted an entrance and an exit door for goods, people, culture, and ideas, which could open and close, depending on the point of view from which they were observed. During the modern age, the archipelagos were also a door for European incursion in general.