The rise of the Atlantic world, with its variety of communities, cultures, and political and social regimes, was in the context of forced and voluntary migrations of Africans, Europeans, and Asians. The course will explore the nature of these societies and the linkages and interactions within and between the different areas of this broad but integrated region. The course emphasis from semester to semester may be on comparative examination of the social and political development and experiences of the peoples of any or all of its religions; of its slave and labour regimes; and of the evolution of modern nationhood.