This conference discusses the ways in which people and polities from the Americas, Europe, and Africa assumed, legitimized, rejected and interacted with various forms of authority in the ‘long eighteenth century.’ This period is typically characterized by the dissolution of Atlantic Empires combined with the emergence of the nation state. Yet, historians have begun to argue that even as nation states began to emerge in the colonial Atlantic, empires continued to thrive, reconstructing themselves in the face of changing notions of sovereignty, freedom and territoriality. This conference will explore the affinities, groups and networks that were important to peoples’ thinking and acting politically and examine the ways that nations and empires coexisted and came into conflict during the period of the ‘long eighteenth century.’

'Forming Nations, Reforming Empires' is sponsored by the Atlantic World Program at New York University, and will be held at New York University's Ireland House, in Greenwich Village, New York, NY.