page_title: Atlantic Ocean
section_title: Atlantic World
hierarchical_section_title: Atlantic Ocean / History / Atlantic World
caption_attribution_description: Español: Mapa de los territorios del rey de España Felipe II en 1598 &#160;&#160; Territorios adscritos al Consejo de Castilla. &#160;&#160; Territorios adscritos al Consejo de Aragón. &#160;&#160; Territorios adscritos al Consejo de Portugal. &#160;&#160; Territorios adscritos al Consejo de Italia. &#160;&#160; Territorios adscritos al Consejo de Indias. &#160;&#160; Territorios adscritos al Consejo de Flandes abarcando los territorios disputados con las Provincias Unidas. English: Map of the territories of Philip II, King of Spain in 1598 &#160;&#160; Territories appointed to the Council of Castile. &#160;&#160; Territories appointed to the Council of Aragon. &#160;&#160; Territories appointed to the Council of Portugal. &#160;&#160; Territories appointed to the Council of Italy. &#160;&#160; Territories appointed to the Council of the Indies. &#160;&#160; Territories appointed to the Council of Flanders comprising the disputed territories of the United Provinces. Português: Mapa dos territórios do rei de Portugal Filipe I (Filipe II de Espanha) em 1598 &#160;&#160; Territórios atribuídos ao Conselho de Castela. &#160;&#160; Territórios atribuídos ao Conselho de Aragão. &#160;&#160; Territórios atribuídos ao Conselho de Portugal. &#160;&#160; Territórios atribuídos ao Conselho de Itália. &#160;&#160; Territórios atribuídos ao Conselho das Índias. &#160;&#160; Territórios atribuídos ao Conselho da Flandres abrangendo os territórios em disputa das Províncias Unidas. Français&#160;: Carte des territoires du roi d'Espagne Philippe II en 1598 &#160;&#160; Territoires soumis au Conseil de Castille &#160;&#160; Territoires soumis au Conseil d'Aragon &#160;&#160; Territoires soumis au Conseil de Portugal &#160;&#160; Territoires soumis au Conseil d'Italie &#160;&#160; Territoires soumis au Conseil des Indes &#160;&#160; Territoires soumis au Conseil de Flandres, y compris les territoires disputés aux Provinces-Unies. Italiano: Mappa dei territori del re di Spagna Filippo II nel 1598 &#160;&#160; Territori sottomessi al Consiglio di Castiglia &#160;&#160; Territori sottomessi al Consiglio d'Aragona &#160;&#160; Territori sottomessi al Consiglio del Portogallo &#160;&#160; Territori sottomessi al Consiglio d'Italia &#160;&#160; Territori sottomessi al Consiglio delle Indie &#160;&#160; Territori sottomessi al Consiglio delle Fiandre, che comprende i territori contesi delle Province Unite.
context_page_description: The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km². It covers approximately 20 percent of Earth's surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. It separates the "Old World" from the "New World".
  The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. As one component of the interconnected World Ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean at about 8°N.
  Scientific explorations of the Atlantic include the Challenger expedition, the German Meteor expedition, Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the United States Navy Hydrographic Office.
context_section_description: Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492 under Spanish flag. Six years later Vasco da Gama reached India under the Portuguese flag, by navigating south around the Cape of Good Hope, thus proving that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are connected. In 1500, in his voyage to India following Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral reached Brazil, taken by the currents of the South Atlantic Gyre. Following these explorations, Spain and Portugal quickly conquered and colonized large territories in the New World and forced the Amerindian population into slavery in order to explore the vast quantities of silver and gold they found. Spain and Portugal monopolized this trade in order to keep other European nations out, but conflicting interests nevertheless led to a series of Spanish-Portuguese wars. A peace treaty mediated by the Pope divided the conquered territories into Spanish and Portuguese sectors while keeping other colonial powers away. England, France, and the Dutch Republic enviously watched the Spanish and Portuguese wealth grow and allied themselves with pirates such as Henry Mainwaring and Alexandre Exquemelin. They could explore the convoys leaving the Americas because prevailing winds and currents made the transport of heavy metals slow and predictable.
  In the colonies of the Americas, depredation, smallpox and others diseases, and slavery quickly reduced the indigenous population of the Americas to the extent that the Atlantic slave trade had to be introduced to replace them — a trade that became the norm and an integral part of the colonization. Between the 15th century and 1888, when Brazil became the last part of the Americas to end the slave trade, an estimated ten million Africans were exported as slaves, most of them destined for agricultural labour. The slave trade was officially abolished in the British Empire and the United States in 1808, and slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire in 1838 and in the United States in 1865 after the Civil War.
  From Columbus to the Industrial Revolution Trans-Atlantic trade, including colonialism and slavery, became crucial for Western Europe. For European countries with direct access to the Atlantic (including Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain) 1500–1800 was a period of sustained growth during which these countries grew richer than those in Eastern Europe and Asia. Colonialism evolved as part of the Trans-Atlantic trade, but this trade also strengthened the position of merchant groups at the expense of monarchs. Growth was more rapid in non-absolutist countries, such as Britain and the Netherlands, and more limited in absolutist monarchies, such as Portugal, Spain, and France, where profit mostly or exclusively benefited the monarchy and its allies.
  Trans-Atlantic trade also resulted in increasing urbanization: in European countries facing the Atlantic, urbanization grew from 8% in 1300, 10.1% in 1500, to 24.5% in 1850; in other European countries from 10% in 1300, 11.4% in 1500, to 17% in 1850. Likewise, GDP doubled in Atlantic countries but rose by only 30% in the rest of Europe. By end of the 17th century, the volume of the Trans-Atlantic trade had surpassed that of the Mediterranean trade.
caption: A century after Columbus' first voyage, large parts of the New World had been included into the Spanish Empire.
exif: {}