In Kenneth Pomeranz' book titled, “The Great Divergence”, he explains how parts of the 'New World' became the centre of the globe, and overcame the constraints that limited the development of capitalism and modern industry. Referring to the Core Econ material, this question can be rephrased as “what made the hockey stick kick off?” Certain parts of the Old World, namely China, Japan and Europe, were similar several aspects, including development, biological stress on land, and growth rate of population. The rest of the Old World was rather far away from achieving that level of population density. The primary constraint that China and Europe faced before 1600 was the land constraint, and ecological downfall. Despite advancement in other fields,
This free market enabled goods to be available at a cheaper rate, in Europe. The geographical conditions of Britain (abundance of coal, proximity to water sources, etc), coupled with its decision to import from the New World, while engaging its own population in more profit-oriented activities, facilitated the rapid development of capitalism and modern industry. Here, Europe, the core, imported from the periphery. China handled the situation in a vastly different method. They were at a disadvantage, as they did not have the geographical advantages that Britain had, nor did they focus on trade. The domestic market in China was prioritized, and this led to the increase in price of commodities, and the subsequent increase in prices diminished China's role in the world economy. It was these factors that led to the emergence of Europe as a core, and helped it overcome the land constraint. Thus, the Great Divergence took place and the Eurocentric world emerged. Eric Jones, in this book titled, “ The European Miracle”, also adds on to Pomeranz's view of the great divergence and the role of several factors within, and outside Europe, that resulted in its advantage over all other economies in the
Much of Western Europe quickly industrialized after Great Britain. If they did not, they were immediately outclassed by the British in trade and military strength. Industrialization made good use of the natural resources in a state. Some nations industrialized a while after Great Britain and were falling behind. Two of these states were Russia and Japan. These countries experienced change in governments, economic power, and social structure as a result of industrialization. Yet, these states went through their industrializations in very different ways than each other.
The Spanish and Portuguese were able to thrive in China during the sixteenth century, because China already had a well-established silk industry. The Chinese were interested in trading with the Spanish for silver; the Chinese were also interested in Jesuits as middlemen in Japanese trade. In contrast, the Portuguese did not have much prosperity in Brazil at the beginning of its settlement. The Portuguese had to start from nothing and had to introduce sugarcane for the sake of producing revenue in Brazil. In addition, the Portuguese had to import slaves from Africa in order to cultivate sugarcane. The constant, economic encounters that took place in sixteenth-century China and Brazil were more than just trade. When people engage in trade with people of other countries, they are taking part in globalization. The economic interests of people and countries affect the customs, languages, and families of the inhabitants of the area. Even though the Age of Discovery happened centuries ago, globalization continues to develop today, because new technology and laws are being created to make commerce easier or harder to
For several centuries the Europeans were always trying to have the best of the best in their country. Because they were so greedy they went of on several voyages to trade and gain those products they desired like silk, porcelain, tea, and lacquer-ware. With this the Europeans were always trying to out due and impress the Chinese with their clocks and their scientific gadgets. But they were never impressed, the Chinese always believed they were better and never wanted much to do with the Europeans. The Chinese were always very advanced in every skill; they believed that they had all that they needed to be a strong nation.
The history of the world is bought together by its sophisticated culture and commerce net. Throughout the history, human beings have been taking on varies role in the society, and it has been the human activities kept the history alive, writing down the story of our time. Back in 16th century, an ancient nation was the center of world trading system; this nation attracted countries all over the globe to try to use its cultural and economic superiority for reference, and this nation was China. European countries such as Dutch, England and French had went to Ming and Qing China numerous time, trading had always been their main goal, but the process and strategies have changed throughout the history. There are proves stating that European merchant had taken on an active in Chinese society since Medieval China, which is 13th century. As time goes by, the trade between China and Europe had getting increasingly frequent and more complex. Therefore, this paper focuses on European trading activity with China from 16th century to 20th century, along with trading policy and social status changes.
Pomeranz’s arguments have indeed set off a chain of responses from numerous scholars . However the summary of the book by Rosenthal and Bin Wong does reduce the qualified arguments put forth by Pomeranz. Clearly distortions produced by war propelled Europe towards urbanization and capital-using technologies several centuries before 1700. By implication, one can conclude that a competitive and innovative Europe outperformed an imperial and traditionalist
Westerners perceive the Chinese as a lower race, but supple to the purpose of industrial exploitation (Hobson 313). Chinese labour workers have a larger surplus product of labour in comparison to the cost of keep. Their labour power described by Westerners was by far richer than the price of gold and silver deposits (Hobson 313). The Western industrial method is composed of three stages. The first stage is the ordinary commerce, which is the exchange of normal surplus between two countries (Hobson 313). The second stage is acquiring territory, or investing capital on a foreign country in order to connect to resources such as imports (Hobson 313). The third stage is when organizing energy is developed within a country. Westerners wanted to apply the stages to China, investing on their labour power (Hobson 313). China would be a phenomenal labour market if they added a railroad system (Hobson 313). This would have spare capital and development of business energy and supply European countries and the United States for many generations (Hobson
With Hong Kong as its colony, and less trade restrictions Britain was able to expand trade with China, which provided an imp...
The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and Social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans were aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on. Britain was endowed with geographic and political advantages that allowed the country to become the first to unwittingly stumble onto industrialization. Britain was an island, therefore had developed a unique naval strength which subsequently gave Britain leverage when globalization blossomed from expanding maritime trade. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe, including Belgium, trailed behind. Presently, colonized regions still bear the traits and scars from the subjugators of their past.
Industrial Revolution. In closing, had China not shut out the Western world as a means of
During the 19th Century, China and Japan each responded differently to western penetration. China was against industrializing and did not want to create an empire like those of the western empires. Japan however learned that if they wanted to survive they had to adopt the changes that the western empires were adopting. Japan began to create an industrialized society and soon became one of the major industrial powers. China went through many rebellions and finally decided to industrialize just enough to be able to fight off the western empires. However, they did not industrialize fast enough or big enough, and they could not defeat the west. Although they responded differently, both China and Japan were affected by western penetration economically,
One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially.
These western nations needed access to vital natural resources and control of strategic trade zones to promote further industrialization within their empires. This industrialization came with it profound wealth of the nation and its expansion of power abroad. Numerous natural resources, important to industrialization, were located in these conquered regions. Cotton for example, necessary for textile production, was found in India and Egypt, both British territories. [11] Further natural resources like rubber in Congo, oil in Iran, and gold in South Africa encouraged imperialists to expand their spheres of influence past their natural border. [11] Access to these regions also provided western states a market for their finished goods, textiles primarily. Senator Beveridge explains the need of foreign markets by stating “Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer.”[12] French imperialist Jules Ferry also highlights the need for a foreign consumer “...felt more and more urgently by industrialized population of Europe and especially the people of our rich and hardworking country of France: the need for outlets [for exports].”[13] In cases where westerners were buying rather than selling to foreign markets, military intervention was utilized. A classic example are the Opium Wars in which Great Britain invaded China thus forcing the Qing Dynasty into buying British exports of opium.[14] Through this integrated system of extracting resources out of the colonies, using those resources to produce a final good, and selling it back to the colonies, the western states establish a trade surplus. The trade surplus brings in wealth back to homeland thus allowing the nations to expand industrialization, which in turn expands the wealth and power of the nation.
The Great Divergence is term used to portray the gradual shift of dominance that Europe gained by establishing itself as the most powerful world civilization by the 19th century. While a case could be made that the Great Divergence occurred because of the pre-eminence of Europe and Britain, as well as their supposed superiority in invention and innovation above anywhere else in the world, this argument is flawed. A more compelling argument would be to state that it was rather through the geographical advantages that Europe obtained that lead it into eventually becoming the most powerful civilization after 1500 A.D., as this essay will strive to demonstrate.
European colonialism was the period between 16th and mid-20th century. The triangle trade had emerged in the 16th century and slaves, sugar, furs, and cotton, enforced through military interventions, drew together the people, politics, economics, and even diseases of Europe, Africa, and the Americans in a triangle of previously unimaginable, highly unequal, and long-lasting relationships of exchange. Even today, we can find traces of many of these connections in the global economy for example, the French military operating in Côte d’Ivoire. So, the European colonialism played a pivotal role in establishing the framework for today’s global economic system.
During the twentieth century, the world began to develop the idea of economic trade. Beginning in the 1960’s, the four Asian Tigers, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, demonstrated that a global economy, which was fueled by an import and export system with other countries, allowed the economy of the home country itself to flourish. Th...