Layered pasts -- Progenitors. Legacies of power from medieval North America . Legacies of conquest from medieval Europe -- Conquistadores. Crusades of the Christ-bearers to the Americas ; Crusades of the Protestants to new worlds -- Traders. Native Americans and the power of trade ; Epidemics, wars, and the remapping of a continent -- Planters. Searching for order in new and old England ; Planting patriarchy in New England and Virginia ; Dutch, French, Spanish, and English counterpoints -- Imperialists. Monarchical power reborn ; Planters besieged ; Revolution, warfare, and a new transatlantic order -- Atlanteans. Producing and consuming in an Atlantic empire -- People in motion, enslaved and free ; Contending for a continent ; Gloomy and dark days -- Present pasts