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The myth of early globalization: the Atlantic economy, 1500–1800

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2003

PIETER EMMER
Affiliation:
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Research, Wassenaar, The Netherlands and Department of History, University of Leiden, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

In recent historiography, it has been argued that the expansion of Europe between 1500 and 1800 created a ‘system’ in the Atlantic by which the economies of Europe, West Africa and the New World were closely interconnected by trade and migration. However, the available evidence suggests that the economic implications of such a system were of marginal importance. Rather than boosting the economy, the ‘Atlantic System’ stimulated the expansion of European values and norms, such as private property, monogamy, the nuclear family, free labour and the place of women and children in society.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Academia Europaea 2003

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