Tangled Worlds: Africa, Europe, and the Making of a Connected Atlantic World, c. 1400-1800 

This paper explores the intertwined history of Africa and Atlantic Europe between 1400 and 1800. Unlike other works that view Africa as only a passive subject of Europe's outward expansion, this paper demonstrates that African kings, traders, priests and intellectuals were key players in the construction of the Atlantic world. Using four overlapping themes: political diplomacy; commodity knowledge; religious translation; and cartographic imagination, the paper shows that the histories of Africa and Europe during this period cannot be accurately reconstructed through the lens of a single region in isolation.