The West, the East, and the insular middle: trading systems, demand, and labour in the integration of the Pacific, 1750–1875

Abstract

AbstractThis article offers the novel interpretation that Pacific integration began in the ocean's western sphere and later moved into its insular middle and eastern sphere. It demonstrates this by tracing three ocean-wide trends: the emergence of common trading goals and systems, the expansive role of reciprocal demand, and the shared experiences of Pacific peoples, who, both as slaves and in tribute-based and free labour systems, produced prominent trade goods. It presents additional new perspectives by identifying a ‘silver-substitute century’ in maritime commerce from 1750 to 1850, and by establishing the 1850s and 1860s as a period of transition from the influence of China-centred to Western-centred demand in Pacific trade. It thus reveals the limits of established interpretations that emphasize Western state and imperial initiatives and the role of Western technological and manufacturing dominance in the process of integration.