大西洋史关注大西洋沿岸的欧洲、南美洲、北美洲和非洲四个大洲互动的历史，上起1492年哥伦布第一次横渡大西洋，下迄18世纪末19世纪初的革命时代。大西洋史主要有三种研究类型，分别为环大西洋史（circum-Atlantic history）、跨大西洋史（trans-Atlantic history）以及大西洋内史（cis-Atlantic history），且三者相辅相成。环大西洋史即大西洋作为一个交换、往来、流通和传播的特定区域的历史，跨大西洋史是通过比较不同国家、城市或种植园来讲述大西洋世界的历史，大西洋内史指某个特定地方与更广阔的大西洋世界相联系的历史。大西洋史研究突破了以帝国和民族国家为中心的传统历史叙事，拓展了历史学者的研究方法与研究视野。
Atlantic history focuses on the history of interactions among Europe，South America，North America，and Africa along the Atlantic coast. It seems to have a reasonably clear chronology，beginning with its first crossing by Columbus in 1492 and ending with the age of revolutions in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Research on Atlantic history can be divided into three main branches：circum-Atlantic history，trans-Atlantic history，and cis-Atlantic history，which complement each other. Circum-Atlantic history is the history of the Atlantic as a particular zone of exchange and interchange，circulation and transmission；trans-Atlantic history tells the history of the Atlantic world by comparing different countries，cities，or plantations；cis-Atlantic history refers to the history of connections of a particular place with the wider Atlantic world. The study of Atlantic history has broken through the traditional historical narrative centered on empires and nation-states，expanding the research methods and horizons of historians.
