The Two First Economy-Worlds: The Roman and Chinese Empires

Abstract

Two economy-worlds have dominated Eurasia for centuries, the Roman and Chinese ones. Rome rose as a big dominant city before manifesting any imperialist purposes. The Mediterranean Sea was the heart of the Roman Empire, while its Chinese counterpart was much more continental. Both empires were repeatedly invaded, and, in both cases, some invaders succeeded to take control of parts of the empires, if not their entirety. The Great Corridor has been the spine of the Roman Empire, while the Chinese one has been successively dominated by the Asian, the Great and the Mongolo-American corridors. The Roman Empire never recovered from its collapse, while the Chinese one always was reborn after its disruption. This chapter stresses such similarities and differences between the two major economy-worlds.