Routledge The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World Economy, 1400 to the Present

Product Description The World That Trade Created brings to life the history of trade and its actors. In a series of brief, highly readable vignettes, filled with insights and amazing facts about things we tend to take for granted, the authors uncover the deep historical roots of economic globalization. Covering over seven hundred years of history, this book, now in its fourth edition, takes the reader around the world from the history of the opium trade to pirates, to the building of corporations and migration to the New World. The chapters are grouped thematically, each featuring an introductory essay designed to synthesize and elaborate on key themes, both familiar and unfamiliar. It includes ten new essays, on topics ranging from the early modern ivory and slave trades across the Indian Ocean, to the ways in which the availability of new consumer goods helped change work habits in both Europe and East Asia, and from the history of chewing gum to that of rare earth metals. The introductory essays for each chapter, the overall introduction and epilogue, and several of the essays have also been revised and updated. The World That Trade Created continues to be a key resource for anyone teaching world history, world civilization, and the history of international trade. Review ‘In this collection of short essays, Pomeranz and Topik masterfully depict the story of the creation of the world economy. Without using academic jargon, they explain how trade with commodities, drugs, animals, people and ideas moved among continents and transformed the world.’ ― Manel Ollé, associate tenure professor in Modern and contemporary Chinese history and culture, Director of the Master in Chinese Studies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain ‘How invisible networks of trade ultimately came to compel producers, merchants, and even whole societies to adapt to the networks' needs as they grew is a fascinating story, and one just as important for understanding the world as developments in politics or culture are. I know of no other book that introduces trade networks so well. It is an ideal text for survey courses.’ ― Roland Spickermann - Chair, Dept. of History, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, USA About the Author Kenneth Pomeranz is University Professor in History at the University of Chicago, USA, and was President of the American Historical Association in 2013-14. Steven Topik is Professor of History at UC Irvine, USA, where he has worked since 1984. Previously he taught at Brazil’ s Universidade Federal Fluminense and Colgate University.