Spanning the North Atlantic rim from Canada to Scotland, and from
the Caribbean to the coast of West Africa, the British Atlantic
world is deeply interconnected across its regions. In this
groundbreaking study, thirteen leading scholars explore the idea of
transatlanticism--or a shared "Atlantic world" experience--through
the lens of architecture, built spaces, and landscapes in the
British Atlantic from the seventeenth century through the
mid-nineteenth century. Examining town planning, churches, forts,
merchants' stores, state houses, and farm houses, this collection
shows how the powerful visual language of architecture and design
allowed the people of this era to maintain common cultural
experiences across different landscapes while still forming their
individuality.
By studying the interplay between physical construction and social
themes that include identity, gender, taste, domesticity, politics,
and race, the authors interpret material culture in a way that
particularly emphasizes the people who built, occupied, and used
the spaces and reflects the complex cultural exchanges between
Britain and the New World.