Galleons and Caravans: the main debates Overview lecture

Galleons and Caravans Global Connections

Today’s Lecture A. What is Galleons and Caravans about? B. What are the key concepts and methods used in the course? C. Historical Debates in Global/World History

What makes this course different? Team-taught course 2. Chronology: 1300-1800 3. Takes the wider world seriously

Thematically organised: Theories of global history Travel Silk routes Silver   Diasporas and migrations Global cities Global empires The European trade companies Global arts and material culture Environment and ecological exchange Religion Science and technology War, exploration and exploitation

1. What is Global History? www.warwick.ac.uk/go/globalhistory

What is global history? History of the entire globe?

What is global history? History of the entire globe? History of globalisation?

‘Globalisation’ is often seen as a phenomenon that boomed in the 1990s through: new systems of communication (the internet, email etc) a high degree of economic interconnectedness the power of large corporations cultural homogenisation

What is global history? History of the entire globe? History of globalisation? History of interaction and connection in the early modern world

Ways of doing global history: a. Connections: - to explain both economic and cultural phenomena. - connections are not always positive (exploitation, war, slavery, etc.). b. Comparisons: - especially used in the social sciences - based on indepth studies of specific localities - problem of what to compare

Ways of doing global history: c. Holistic: - the whole world as one unit (in ‘big history’ the whole ‘Universe’, as in David Christian’s Maps of Time (2004) - use of science and biology d. Systemic: - analyzes how different areas (be they localities, states or empires) relate to each other.

World and Global History Jounal of World History, since 1990, US-based Journal of Global History, since 2006, UK-based

What is wrong with Global History? Eurocentrism 2. Dominance of economic history

Divergence David Landes Kenneth Pomeranz Environmental factors Superior culture of Northern Europe Post 1750 Coal and colonies

World-systems theory Wallerstein Frank

Silver and economic integration Flynn and Giraldez Richard von Glahn the authors' thinking concerning the central role of China in the global silver trade, as well as interrelations among silver and non-silver markets. Research before 2002 paved the way for development of a coherent 'Birth of Globalization' narrative that portrays economic factors in the context of powerful epidemiological, ecological, demographic, and cultural forces.

Scientific development Toby Huff Benjamin Elman

Scientific development Toby Huff Benjamin Elman

East India Companies Om Prakash Markus Vink ‘the new thalassology’ Annales school over a span of three centuries, the Indian economy expanded and was integrated into the pre-modern world economy as a result of these interactions with European traders

Industrial Revolution or Luxury From industrialization and modes of manufacturing to seeing connections between luxury and manufacture

Maxine Berg ‘In Pursuit of Luxury: Global History and British Consumer Goods in the Eighteenth Century’ Past and Present (2004)

Other topics for your consideration Empires—global or not? Diaspora communities and their role in creating connections Maritime connections versus land-based connections Spread of religions Cities as nodes of global trade Columbian exchange

Global Connections Multidisciplinary approach Economic history as well as social and cultural history Art and material culture Literary materials (travel records, personal accounts) The early modern world had multiple centres of gravity Periodization: start in 1300