All in the Family? Reflections on Colonial Ibero-America in an Atlantic Frame

Abstract

The field of Atlantic history has grown up over a relatively short period of time to conceptualize more broadly the narratives that deal with the interrelated histories of Europe, Africa and the Americas. Historians of British North America tend to predominate among the field's early enthusiasts and still seem to find Atlantic history most congenial, while historians of Europe, Africa and Latin America have had a more mixed response. Usage of an Iberian Atlantic framework in anglophone historiography to date has been modest for several reasons, among them, the wider field's anglophilic origins and the linguistic, national, and imperial boundaries that still constrain it. This essay evaluates the potential of an Iberian Atlantic framework within the larger Atlantic history paradigm mostly through scholarship written in English. It explores the definitions, utility and limits of an Atlantic perspective for historians of Ibero-America to consider whether the adoption of an Iberian Atlantic framework makes se...