An Old World: North America

The authors begin in 1534, when the Mi’kmaq Indigenous tribe of the Gulf of St. Lawrence approached Jacques Cartier’s ship to trade, signaling peace through animal skins attached to sticks. Six years later, the Cacica of Cofitachequi in present-day South Carolina met Hernando de Soto with gifts, a diplomatic gesture welcoming trade and alliance. These episodes are presented as examples to counter the European view of the Americas as a newly discovered world, instead presenting a continent with established societies and complex intercultural dynamics, highlighting The Significance of Diverse Groups in America.

The authors emphasize that Indigenous peoples saw European arrivals as opportunities for strategic alliances and trade, contrasting with European exploitative practices like the transatlantic trading of enslaved people. Europeans projected their aspirations onto the Americas, often mythologizing it as a land of wealth and freedom, which led to both exploitative and utopian endeavors.

An Old World: West Africa

West Africa before European contact was a diverse region with multiple languages, political systems, and significant empires like Mali and Benin, known for cities such as Jenne and Edo. The authors explain that these empires thrived on the trans-Saharan trade, exchanging gold, textiles, and other goods with North Africa and beyond.