GLOBAL HISTORY – 6 WEEK
READING 1 – NOTES
“Why Europe?” is the question of many macrohistorians
16th century started to burst out into the world
19th century become a dominant force in the world
2 responses:
1. Something happened in Europe that eventually led to economic development + power as the
advent of reason, freedom, individualism (David Lander)
2. Europe rise is due to (1) fortune (2) colonial trade (i.e. silver and gold from New World) + tend to
see the last 1000 years as dominated by Asia + Europe burst out in the last quarter of the
millennium (the focus isn’t on Europe but mostly on Asia) (Andre Gunder Frank)
they are both polemical:
- Landes calls criticism on works that see Europe as dominant “anti-intellectual + against the
facts”
- Frank on the other hand claims that his analysis is rightful in the sense that pulls history out
from the previous anti-historical approach of Eurocentrism of Marx, Weber…
Recently: WOLRD-HISTORY has emerged as the historical discipline which best fit the post Cold War era
which is the one of globalization.
Its FOCUS encounters and interactions rather than hegemony and dominance in the last thousand years
that led to development (Bin Wong + Kenneth Pomeranz)
McNeill claim he states that even with the best documentary evidence it is still possible to write poor
history. It is the historian skill of being able to choose the right questions and to talk about the topic with
integrity that counts.
David Landes key factor: Western civilization and its dissemination + Europeans created a systematic
economic development
3 key factors in European culture that allowed economic growth (apart of technological improvements
which are implied):
1. DEVELOPMENT of SCIENCE intellectual inquiry free from (1) social constraints (as religion) (2)
political constraints (as centralized authority) + despite of the lack of a European political center
one commonality: Latin
2. Practice of MAX WEBER thesis value of work, initiative and investment (work hard, spend less
than the amount earned, invest the rest in productive capacity) and Europe did so
3. Europeans were LEARNERS (they learned rather greedily said Joel Mokyr) they had the ability to
put knowledge to use wherever they found it
( resistance to learning is the problem of Arab today and was the one of Chinese in 18 th century)
Landes states that technological advances in Europe made Europeans strong enough to dominate people
and they did so COMMONSENSE LAW
Creations of modernity Landes + Gress+ Lal important link of long-term economic growth with
medieval church (rise of private property, of liberty, of individualism)
Clunas: key western ingredient in the invention of modernity – food styles, -fashion, -diversity, -overseas
colonization
READING 1 – NOTES
“Why Europe?” is the question of many macrohistorians
16th century started to burst out into the world
19th century become a dominant force in the world
2 responses:
1. Something happened in Europe that eventually led to economic development + power as the
advent of reason, freedom, individualism (David Lander)
2. Europe rise is due to (1) fortune (2) colonial trade (i.e. silver and gold from New World) + tend to
see the last 1000 years as dominated by Asia + Europe burst out in the last quarter of the
millennium (the focus isn’t on Europe but mostly on Asia) (Andre Gunder Frank)
they are both polemical:
- Landes calls criticism on works that see Europe as dominant “anti-intellectual + against the
facts”
- Frank on the other hand claims that his analysis is rightful in the sense that pulls history out
from the previous anti-historical approach of Eurocentrism of Marx, Weber…
Recently: WOLRD-HISTORY has emerged as the historical discipline which best fit the post Cold War era
which is the one of globalization.
Its FOCUS encounters and interactions rather than hegemony and dominance in the last thousand years
that led to development (Bin Wong + Kenneth Pomeranz)
McNeill claim he states that even with the best documentary evidence it is still possible to write poor
history. It is the historian skill of being able to choose the right questions and to talk about the topic with
integrity that counts.
David Landes key factor: Western civilization and its dissemination + Europeans created a systematic
economic development
3 key factors in European culture that allowed economic growth (apart of technological improvements
which are implied):
1. DEVELOPMENT of SCIENCE intellectual inquiry free from (1) social constraints (as religion) (2)
political constraints (as centralized authority) + despite of the lack of a European political center
one commonality: Latin
2. Practice of MAX WEBER thesis value of work, initiative and investment (work hard, spend less
than the amount earned, invest the rest in productive capacity) and Europe did so
3. Europeans were LEARNERS (they learned rather greedily said Joel Mokyr) they had the ability to
put knowledge to use wherever they found it
( resistance to learning is the problem of Arab today and was the one of Chinese in 18 th century)
Landes states that technological advances in Europe made Europeans strong enough to dominate people
and they did so COMMONSENSE LAW
Creations of modernity Landes + Gress+ Lal important link of long-term economic growth with
medieval church (rise of private property, of liberty, of individualism)
Clunas: key western ingredient in the invention of modernity – food styles, -fashion, -diversity, -overseas
colonization
