The Eastern origins of Western civilisation

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Tables......Page 11
Preface and acknowledgements......Page 13
1 Countering the Eurocentric myth of the pristine West: discovering the oriental West......Page 19
European identity formation and the invention of Eurocentrism/Orientalism......Page 25
The Orientalist foundations of Marxism......Page 30
The Orientalist foundations of Weberianism......Page 32
The illusion of Eurocentrism: discovering the oriental West......Page 37
Part I The East as an early developer: the East discovers and leads the world through oriental globalisation, 500–1800......Page 45
2 Islamic and African pioneers: building the Bridge of the World and the global economy in the Afro-Asian age of discovery, 500–1500......Page 47
The creation of oriental globalisation after 500......Page 49
The Islamic global pioneer: the rise of Islamic extensive and intensive power......Page 54
The northern route and the Mongol empire: the ‘benign tribes from Hell’?......Page 62
The middle route: the maintenance of Middle Eastern Islamic extensive power......Page 64
The southern route: Europe’s dependence on Egypt’s trading hegemony, 1291–1517......Page 65
3 Chinese pioneers: the first industrial miracle and the myth of Chinese isolationism, c. 1000–1800......Page 68
The iron and steel (r)evolution, 600 BCE to 1100 CE......Page 69
Taxation, paper, printing and the rise of a commercialised economy......Page 72
The agricultural or ‘Green’ revolution......Page 74
The navigational revolution......Page 75
The first military revolution: China, c. 850–1290......Page 76
An initial Chinese conclusion......Page 78
The myth of Chinese isolationism and economic stagnation: China, first among equals, 1434–1800......Page 79
The myth of China’s withdrawal: the post-1434 continuity of Chinese international trade......Page 81
The myth of the Chinese ‘ban’ on international trade: the politics of Chinese identity......Page 86
The myth of the decline of the Chinese economy: China pre-eminent, 1100–1800/1840......Page 88
The East over the West, 1200–1800......Page 92
The Indian state as growth permissive: eight anti-Eurocentric propositions......Page 97
A South-east Asian appendix?......Page 104
The myth of Japanese oriental despotism and isolationism: Japan as an ‘early developer’, 1600–1868......Page 106
How it all really began in Japan: economic dynamism in the Tokugawa era (1603–1868)......Page 107
The myth of Japanese isolationism: the post-1639 continuation of foreign trade......Page 111
Part II The West was last: oriental globalisation and the invention of Christendom, 500–1498......Page 115
5 Inventing Christendom and the Eastern origins of European feudalism, c. 500–1000......Page 117
The basic technological ingredients of the medieval agricultural revolution......Page 118
The Eastern origins of the European feudal economy......Page 119
The military and class dimensions of feudalism: the Eastern context......Page 121
Constructing or inventing the ‘Islamic threat’......Page 125
Inventing Christendom......Page 129
Forging order and legitimacy......Page 131
Conclusion......Page 132
6 The myth of the Italian pioneer, 1000–1492......Page 134
Eastern trade as the fifth element in the high medieval European institutional and technological ‘revolutions’......Page 135
Eastern origins of the financial revolution......Page 137
The Eastern origins of the navigational revolution......Page 139
The Eastern origins of the European ‘energy’ and ‘proto-industrial’ revolutions......Page 144
Textile manufacturing......Page 146
Paper-making manufacturing......Page 147
European clock-making......Page 148
Conclusion......Page 150
7 The myth of the Vasco da Gama epoch, 1498–c. 1800......Page 152
The myth of the modern European age of discovery in Asia......Page 153
The twin myths of the Portuguese age of discovery and the Western age of proto-globalisation......Page 155
The myth of European ingenuity in the Portuguese voyages......Page 158
The myth of European military superiority in Asia......Page 162
The myth of the European trading monopoly in Asia......Page 166
The myth of European political dominance in Asia......Page 172
Conclusion......Page 174
Part III The West as a late developer and the advantages of backwardness: oriental globalisation and the reconstruction of Western Europe as the advanced West, 1492–1850......Page 177
8 The myth of 1492 and the impossibility of America: the Afro-Asian contribution to the catch up of the West, 1492–c. 1700......Page 179
The impossibility of America and the myth of Christopher Columbus......Page 180
The ‘Eastern Renaissance’ and the three paradoxes of the Western Renaissance......Page 191
Islamic developments in mathematics......Page 194
Islamic conceptions of man as a rational agent......Page 195
Islamic scientific methods as a prelude to the European scientific revolution......Page 196
The Eastern origins of printing: the myth of Johann Gutenberg......Page 201
The Eastern origins of the European military revolution......Page 204
The significance of labelling Britain a ‘newly industrialising country’ or ‘late developer’......Page 208
The oriental enlightenment......Page 212
The transmission channels from China to Europe......Page 216
The eighteenth-century iron mouldboard plough (Rotherham plough)......Page 219
Seed-drills and horse-hoeing husbandry......Page 221
The steam engine......Page 225
Coal and blast furnaces......Page 228
The Chinese origins of British cotton manufacturing......Page 230
Signs of British industrial superiority or just British hubris?......Page 232
Conclusion......Page 235
10 Constructing European racist identity and the invention of the world, 1700–1850: the imperial civilising mission as a moral vocation......Page 237
Reconstructing European identity: racism, the discourse of empire and the invention of the world......Page 240
The theory of oriental despotism......Page 242
The Peter Pan theory of the East......Page 246
Classification according to climate and temperament......Page 249
The Protestant revival......Page 252
Social Darwinism and scientific (or explicit) racism......Page 254
The moral contradiction of the imperial civilising mission......Page 257
11 The dark side of British industrialisation and the myth of laissez-faire: war, racist imperialism and the Afro-Asian origins of industrialisation......Page 261
War and the myth of British laissez-faire......Page 262
Britain’s militarised industrialisation......Page 263
High and unfair taxes......Page 265
The British system of national protectionism: despotism, militarism and regressive taxation......Page 266
Militarism, the interventionist state and the proactive creation of finance capital......Page 271
Militarism, despotism and forced savings......Page 272
Tariff protectionism and late development......Page 273
Racism, industrialisation and the moral contradiction of the British imperial civilising mission......Page 275
The contradictions of imperial free trade: containment versus cultural conversion......Page 276
Racism and the commodification of the East: the Afro-Asian origins of British industrialisation......Page 283
Conclusion: was British state interventionism and imperialism a waste of money?......Page 295
Part IV Conclusion: the oriental West versus the Eurocentric myth of the West......Page 299
12 The twin myths of the rational Western liberal-democratic state and the great divide between East and West, 1500–1900......Page 301
The myth of the centralised and rational Western state, 1500–1900......Page 302
The myth of the liberal minimalist Western state, 1500–1900......Page 305
The myth of the democratic Western state, 1500–1900......Page 307
Conclusion......Page 311
13 The rise of the oriental West: identity/agency, global structure and contingency......Page 312
Looking for the answer in the wrong place – formulating a new question......Page 313
European agency/identity and the appropriation of Eastern resources in the rise of the oriental West......Page 323
The impact of contingency in the rise of the oriental West......Page 331
Conclusion......Page 334
Notes to ch. 1......Page 341
Notes to ch. 2......Page 343
Notes to ch. 3......Page 346
Notes to ch. 4......Page 351
Notes to ch. 5......Page 355
Notes to ch. 6......Page 357
Notes to ch. 7......Page 361
Notes to ch. 8......Page 365
Notes to ch. 9......Page 371
Notes to ch. 10......Page 375
Notes to ch. 11......Page 378
Notes to ch. 12......Page 383
Notes to ch. 13......Page 384
Index......Page 387