Cape Breton University

Cape Breton University, located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, offers the following courses on Atlantic Canadian topics.

  • History 320: The Atlantic World During the Age of Sail: Seafarers, Slaves, Pirates, and Revolutionaries

    Instructor: Andrew Parnaby, Associate Professor, Department of History

    By the late 17th century, European explorers had drawn four continents, and the millions of people who lived there, into a zone of interaction centred on the Atlantic Ocean. This "Atlantic world" was not "discovered," but was created, over time, by Europeans, Africans, and indigenous peoples. By no means equal in power and influence, they were tied together by a complex web of economic, political, and cultural connections that reshaped life in Europe, Africa, and the Americas in revolutionary ways. Organized around the experiences of seafarers, slaves, and pirates, this course examines the formation and development of this "Atlantic world" during the age of sail (roughly the late 17th century to the early 19th century) from the "bottom up." Particular emphasis will be placed on the Anglo-American and Caribbean contexts.

    View course outline.