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In the Atlantic Ocean, two completly different world systems exsisted. The North Atlantic relied heavily upon the French, Dutch and English colonies in North America. By the 18th century, conflicts between European powers had spured greatly in that area. The British slowly began to obtain the Dutch's claims, and the French and British clashed in a series of great wars. After the French and Indian War, England obtained all of France's claims to North America, and Florida from Spain, one of France's allies. The war determined that the English would have the most influence over North America.
The South Atlantic depended greatly on slave labor. Millions of Native Americans had died from diseases from Europe. Few Europeans actually migrated to New World in the 17th century, providing few workers for industries. This shortage of labor became a big problem when Europe introduced the plantation system, which became the main form of agriculture in the South Atlantic.
In the Indian Ocean, and all around the world, British power was growing greatly. The English East India Company had set up a fort in Calcutta. The English used this fort to slowly take over the entire Indian subcontinent.
In the Indian Ocean, trade for spices and silk was high. This trade had already been going on for thousands of years. Until the Industrial Revolution, Europeans had little that the Asian markets desired, so they were only able to participate bacause of the high amounts of gold and silver that they had obtained in America. The other factor that Europeans had was military power. They had made fighting a profession more than any other nation in the world, this helped them to expand thier commericial activities.
