The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization

Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Tables
Preface and acknowledgements
1 Countering the Eurocentric myth of the pristine West: discovering the oriental West
	Constructing the Eurocentric/Orientalist foundations of the mainstream theories of the rise of the West
		European identity formation and the invention of Eurocentrism/Orientalism
		The Orientalist foundations of Marxism
		The Orientalist foundations of Weberianism
	The illusion of Eurocentrism: discovering the oriental West
Part I The East as an early developer: the East discovers and leads the world through oriental globalisation, 500–1800
	2 Islamic and African pioneers: building the Bridge of the World and the global economy in the Afro-Asian age of discovery, 500–1500
		The Eastern origins of the global economy: the Afro-Asian age of discovery (post-500 CE)
			The creation of oriental globalisation after 500
			The Islamic global pioneer: the rise of Islamic extensive and intensive power
		Global extensive power and the contours of the global economy, c. 1000–1517
			The northern route and the Mongol empire: the ‘benign tribes from Hell’?
			The middle route: the maintenance of Middle Eastern Islamic extensive power
			The southern route: Europe’s dependence on Egypt’s trading hegemony, 1291–1517
	3 Chinese pioneers: the first industrial miracle and the myth of Chinese isolationism, c. 1000–1800
		The first industrial miracle: eleventh-century Sung China
			The iron and steel (r)evolution, 600 BCE to 1100 CE
			The transportation and energy revolutions
			Taxation, paper, printing and the rise of a commercialised economy
			The agricultural or ‘Green’ revolution
			The navigational revolution
			The first military revolution: China, c. 850–1290
			An initial Chinese conclusion
		The myth of Chinese isolationism and economic stagnation: China, first among equals, 1434–1800
			The myth of China’s withdrawal: the post-1434 continuity of Chinese international trade
			The myth of the Chinese ‘ban’ on international trade: the politics of Chinese identity
			The myth of the decline of the Chinese economy: China pre-eminent, 1100–1800/1840
	4 The East remains dominant: the twin myths of oriental despotism and isolationism in India, South-east Asia and Japan, 1400–1800
		The East over the West, 1200–1800
		The twin myths of Indian isolationism and oriental despotism
			The Indian state as growth permissive: eight anti-Eurocentric propositions
			A South-east Asian appendix?
		The myth of Japanese oriental despotism and isolationism: Japan as an ‘early developer’, 1600–1868
			How it all really began in Japan: economic dynamism in the Tokugawa era (1603–1868)
			The myth of Japanese isolationism: the post-1639 continuation of foreign trade
Part II The West was last: oriental globalisation and the invention of Christendom, 500–1498
	5 Inventing Christendom and the Eastern origins of European feudalism, c. 500–1000
		Global and Eastern forces in the rise of the European feudal economy
			The basic technological ingredients of the medieval agricultural revolution
			The Eastern origins of the European feudal economy
		The military and class dimensions of feudalism: the Eastern context
		Inventing the identity of Christendom in the global context
			Constructing or inventing the ‘Islamic threat’
			Inventing Christendom
			Forging order and legitimacy
		Conclusion
	6 The myth of the Italian pioneer, 1000–1492
		Eastern trade as the fifth element in the high medieval European institutional and technological ‘revolutions’
			Eastern origins of the financial revolution
			The Eastern origins of the navigational revolution
			The Eastern origins of the European ‘energy’ and ‘proto-industrial’ revolutions
			Textile manufacturing
			Paper-making manufacturing
			The early European iron industry
			European clock-making
		Conclusion
	7 The myth of the Vasco da Gama epoch, 1498–c. 1800
		The myth of the modern European age of discovery in Asia
		The twin myths of the Portuguese age of discovery and the Western age of proto-globalisation
		The myth of European ingenuity in the Portuguese voyages
		The myth of European military superiority in Asia
		The myth of the European trading monopoly in Asia
		The myth of European political dominance in Asia
		Conclusion
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
	8 The myth of 1492 and the impossibility of America: the Afro-Asian contribution to the catch up of the West, 1492–c. 1700
		The impossibility of America and the myth of Christopher Columbus
		The ‘Eastern Renaissance’ and the three paradoxes of the Western Renaissance
			Islamic developments in mathematics
			Islamic conceptions of man as a rational agent
			Islamic scientific methods as a prelude to the European scientific revolution
		The Eastern origins of printing: the myth of Johann Gutenberg
		The Eastern origins of the European military revolution
	9 The Chinese origins of British industrialisation: Britain as a derivative late developer, 1700–1846
		The significance of labelling Britain a ‘newly industrialising country’ or ‘late developer’
		China: a model for British industrialisation
			The oriental enlightenment
			The transmission channels from China to Europe
		The Chinese origins of the British agricultural revolution
			The eighteenth-century iron mouldboard plough (Rotherham plough)
			The rotary winnowing machine
			Seed-drills and horse-hoeing husbandry
		The Chinese origins of the British industrial revolution
			The steam engine
			Coal and blast furnaces
		The Chinese origins of British cotton manufacturing
			Signs of British industrial superiority or just British hubris?
		Conclusion
	10 Constructing European racist identity and the invention of the world, 1700–1850: the imperial civilising mission as a moral vocation
		Reconstructing European identity: racism, the discourse of empire and the invention of the world
			The theory of oriental despotism
			The Peter Pan theory of the East
			Classification according to climate and temperament
			The Protestant revival
			Social Darwinism and scientific (or explicit) racism
		The moral contradiction of the imperial civilising mission
	11 The dark side of British industrialisation and the myth of laissez-faire: war, racist imperialism and the Afro-Asian origins of industrialisation
		War and the myth of British laissez-faire
			Britain’s militarised industrialisation
			The Highest national debt in the world
			High and unfair taxes
			The British system of national protectionism: despotism, militarism and regressive taxation
		War, late development and the despotic interventionist state
			Militarism, the interventionist state and the proactive creation of finance capital
			Militarism, despotism and forced savings
			Tariff protectionism and late development
		Racism, industrialisation and the moral contradiction of the British imperial civilising mission
			The contradictions of imperial free trade: containment versus cultural conversion
			Racism and the commodification of the East: the Afro-Asian origins of British industrialisation
		Conclusion: was British state interventionism and imperialism a waste of money?
Part IV Conclusion: the oriental West versus the Eurocentric myth of the West
	12 The twin myths of the rational Western liberal-democratic state and the great divide between East and West, 1500–1900
		The myth of the centralised and rational Western state, 1500–1900
		The myth of the liberal minimalist Western state, 1500–1900
		The myth of the democratic Western state, 1500–1900
		Conclusion
	13 The rise of the oriental West: identity/agency, global structure and contingency
		Looking for the answer in the wrong place – formulating a new question
		European agency/identity and the appropriation of Eastern resources in the rise of the oriental West
		The impact of contingency in the rise of the oriental West
		Conclusion
Notes
	Notes to ch. 1
	Notes to ch. 2
	Notes to ch. 3
	Notes to ch. 4
	Notes to ch. 5
	Notes to ch. 6
	Notes to ch. 7
	Notes to ch. 8
	Notes to ch. 9
	Notes to ch. 10
	Notes to ch. 11
	Notes to ch. 12
	Notes to ch. 13
Index