Abstract
The global colonial expansion of the likes of Spain, Portugal, Holland, and Britain after the fifteenth century was a completely new phenomenon for the world. Unlike previous experiences of colonizations—such as that of Phoenicians—migrations, or occupations, this episode of colonizations covered the entire globe and made some nations much more powerful and richer, while leaving others dominated and poor for extended periods of time. This chapter reviews what the Mediterranean ‘Old World Order’ looked like before the process leading to the British colonial empire.
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- 1.
According to the United Nations International Trade Statistics (UN Comtrade) Yearbook (2016), in 2016 Asian exports to Europe totalled $852 billion and European exports to Asia totalled $800 billion.
- 2.
All the World’s Gold (2011).
- 3.
Lopez (1976: 16–18).
- 4.
Franck and Brownstone (1986).
- 5.
Lopez (1976).
- 6.
Beckert (2015).
- 7.
Pedani (2010).
- 8.
Doge Tommaso Mocenigo estimated, with some exaggeration, that the fleet consisted of more than 3000 smaller (17,000 seamen) and 300 large (8000 seamen) commercial ships and 45 galleys (11,000 seamen, 3000 carpenters, 3000 caulkers) protecting them (Crowley 2012).
- 9.
Rosenthal (2013).
- 10.
Pedani (2010).
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Yülek, M.A. (2018). The Old World Order: Trade Before the Empires on which the Sun Never Set. In: How Nations Succeed: Manufacturing, Trade, Industrial Policy, and Economic Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0568-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0568-9_1
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