Economic History Ch3

The Great Divergence

new hierarchies within Eurasia formed as Europe began to establish leadership.

the process by which Western Europe gradually emerged as the richest and most powerful area of the world

Europe’s capacity to overcome the limitations of pre-industrial agrarian economies, enabling an improvement in living conditions and the start of the Industrial Revolution

For the Great Divergence , why eurasia?

• eurasia created the “great opening”

• most wealthy and technologically advanced

• had greatest share of the world’s pop

• most dense populations

When did balance start to tip in Europe’s favor as opposed to Asia?

end of middle ages 16th century

Industrial Revolution year

1760

In what ways was Europe already differentiated before the industrial revolution?

• highest growth in urbanisation rates

Demographic explanations for great divergence

• high population density due to advanced agri tech

  • easier communication, rapid diffusion of ideas

  • more limited resources per capita → more efficiency needed →tech

• abundance of suitable plants for domestication

• black death brought a “solution” to Malthusian trap. rise in wages

Institutional explanations for great divergence

• prevalence of universities → renaissance

• capitalistic mercantile cities → tech

• unique, more suitable for tech innovation institutions

• market conditions, private property rights, political institutions intertwined with economic elite

• the west was economically aggressive and eastern institutions were incapable of protecting their people.

  • 19th century GB forced China to open ports for opium imports

Geographical and geopolitical explanations

• early 15th century China led exploratory missions towards the west. They faced the same difficult conditions as portugal—but in the latter part of their journey, where they already felt they achieved their goal of exploration.

• Europe is more fragmented by landforms, making it hard for great isolated empires. Smaller states in constant competition

• Europe easy access to Americas— their limited land was all usedup for agriculture, so they could use fertile american land where labor could be more productive and capital-intensive. Asia was stuck with their land allotment and had a labour intensive economy.

• europe had coal→ energy intensive tech, less wood needed for fuel

• rejection of progress to reduce risk, maintain stability, and there was little competition

example of japanese resistance to progress

abandoned firearms 17th century to prevent civil wars

Why not the americas, africa, or oceania?

• Spain rapidly took power over aztec and incan empires, and other areas of the americas 16th c. disease brought and superior weaponry

• Spanish enslaved natives to obtain precious metals. their birth rates suffered and mortality rates increased. demographic collapse

• 1500 until slave trade abolition 1870s, slaves were brought from africa to americas

• Portugese strategy was to control the ports and trade with locals in africa and asia.