A cloth that binds: new perspectives on the eighteenth-century Prussian economy

Abstract

ABSTRACT The active participation of Eastern European lands in European overseas expansion has not been studied properly. This article therefore focuses on the province of Silesia and its highly productive rural household linen processing. Special attention is given to the mutual impact of the trade in Silesian linen fabrics and the Atlantic slave-related markets during the long eighteenth century. The endogenous and exogenous factors which shaped the specific economic development of the Silesian linen region will be identified. It will also present an approximate calculation of the share of slave-based activities in the economic performance of Silesia and Prussia respectively during the second half of the eighteenth century.