Beyond Empires explores the complexity of empire building from the point of view of self-organized networks, rather than from the point of view of the central state. This focus takes readers into a world of cooperative strategies worldwide that emphasises the role played by individuals, rather than institutions, in the overseas expansion and consequent development of European empires. While unveiling the practices and mechanisms of cooperation between individuals, this volume show cases the role played by individuals for the creation, development and maintenance of selforganized networks in the Early Modern period. Applying new conceptual and theoretical inputs, this book values the contributions of di ferent 'worlds' , bringing to the fore the interactions of Europeans and non-Europeans, Christians and non-Christians, people living within-, on-or just outside the border of empire. Readership This book is meant for MA and graduate students interested in Empire as well as specialists on empire building and Early Modern history. For more information see brill.com
This chapter introduces the structure and content of the volume and provides an overview of each chapter. It also provides definitions of maritime history, globalisation, and the differences between the study of maritime history and the study of global history. It gives an overview of recent maritime historiography and the existing intersection between maritime history and global history. It concludes by claiming that the dynamics of global trade - competition and cooperation in past and present alike - have become central to to the study of maritime history, and asserts that the contributions to this volume reflect the hypothesis.
Little is known about the structural patterns and dynamics of the first global trading market (FGTM), which emerged during the sixteenth century as a result of the Iberian expansion, let alone how it compares to today's global financial markets. Here we build a representative network of the FGTM using information contained in 8725 (handwritten) Bills of Exchange from that time—which were (human) interpreted and digitalized into an online database. We show that the resulting temporal network exhibits a hierarchical, highly clustered and disassortative structure, with a power-law dependence on the connectivity that remains remarkably robust throughout the entire period investigated. Temporal analysis shows that, despite major turnovers in the number and nature of the links—suggesting fast adaptation in response to the geopolitical and financial turmoil experienced at the time—the overall characteristics of the FGTM remain robust and virtually unchanged. The methodology developed here demonstrates the possibility of building and analysing complex trading and finance networks originating from pre-statistical eras, enabling us to highlight the striking similarities between the structural patterns of financial networks separated by centuries in time.
This essay is a case study of a small Portuguese maritime town involved in overseas shipping and trade in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 1 It utilizes a wide range of sources, including notarial deeds, parish records, town council minutes, tax registers, Inquisition proceedings, legislative files and a number of documents dealing with shipping and trade between 1500 and 1640. I argue that Vila do Conde, as well as a number of other maritime communities, developed in particular ways due to Portuguese overseas expansion. Moreover, this historic process had dramatic effects on the town's economic, social and demographic profiles. 'Amelia Pol6nia, "Vila do Conde. Urn porto nortenho na expansao ultramarina quinhentista" (Unpublished PhD thesis, 2 vols., University of Porto, 1999); this will be published as A Expansiio Ultramarina numa perspectiva local. 0 porto de Vila do Conde no seculo XVI (2 vols., Lisboa, 2006, forthcoming). See also Pol6nia, "Reformulation de strategies economiques en temps de guerre. L'etude d'un cas. Portugal, XVI-XVIIe siecles," in Guerre et Economie dans le Monde Atlantique du XVIe au XXe. Siecle. Strategie en Echec, Logiques d'Adapatation (Bordeaux, forthcoming); and Polonia, "L'insertion dans I'axe maritime comme facteur structurant d'une communaute urbaine. L'etude d'un cas. Portugal, XVle Siecle," in Presence et Representations du Monde Atlantique dans les Villes d'Europe Occidentale du Moyen Age au XXe steele (Rennes, forthcoming).
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