The Caribbean region: crucible for modern world history

Abstract

This chapter proposes a linked sequence of vignettes, chosen to highlight some typical early-modern forms of encounter and transition, while suggesting the diversity of responses. It explores how the rise of early-modern silver trade affected technological practices and meanings at different points along the global network. The chapter deals with China to consider transitions in its biggest industry, textiles and the impact of China's own 'cotton revolution', which began around 1300. It contrasts two cases of import substitution, where European technicians learned to imitate Asian technologies that were draining silver from national coffers. Porcelain was reinvented de novo in eighteenth-century Europe, without any direct transfer or even understanding of the Chinese technology. Calico-printing, in contrast, involved a slow infusion of Asian skills, materials and experts into Europe. Finally, the chapter examines how successfully world-history approaches challenge master-narratives of Western exceptionalism, pointing to some troublesome limitations.