Atlantic Virginia: Intercolonial Relations in the Seventeenth Century Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased this book as a reference for my research on early American emigrants, as I am writing a book of my own. The information contained in Atlantic Virginia is great, much of it seems to be original, and it is carefully laid out. That said, I will have to say that I can only get through a few pages at a time, as it is written in a very scholarly manner. Unfortunately, my schedule is such that I have to read at night before bed, and this work does a pretty good job of lulling me to sleep. Still, it does provide detailed and frankly fascinating insight into colonial life (once you get past the dry presentation), and it is the best chronicle I've read on the movement of goods and individuals between the American colonies of the 17th century. I would recommend it to persons interested not only in early Virginia, but to those studying other colonies, especially New England, Maryland, and the Carolinas, and those wanting to learn about New World commerce, shipping, and settlement.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Atlantic Virginia: Intercolonial Relations in the Seventeenth Century


Through networks of trails and rivers inland and established ocean routes across the seas, seventeenth-century Virginians were connected to a vibrant Atlantic world. They routinely traded with adjacent Native Americans and received ships from England, the Netherlands, and other English and Dutch colonies, while maintaining less direct connections to Africa and to French and Spanish colonies. Their Atlantic world emerged from the movement of goods and services, but trade routes quickly became equally important in the transfer of people and information.Much seventeenth-century historiography, however, still assumes that each North American colony operated as a largely self-contained entity and interacted with other colonies only indirectly, through London. By contrast, in Atlantic Virginia, historian April Lee Hatfield demonstrates that the colonies actually had vibrant interchange with each other and with peoples throughout the hemisphere, as well as with Europeans.

Click here for more information about Atlantic Virginia: Intercolonial Relations in the Seventeenth Century