Iberian World Empires and the Globalization of Europe 1415–1668

Description

This open access book analyses Iberian expansion by using knowledge accumulated in recent years to test some of the most important theories regarding Europe’s economic development. Adopting a comparative perspective, it considers the impact of early globalization on Iberian and Western European institutions, social development and political economies. In spite of globalization’s minor importance from the commercial perspective before 1750, this book finds its impact decisive for institutional development, political economies, and processes of state-building in Iberia and Europe. The book engages current historiographies and revindicates the need to take the concept of composite monarchies as a point of departure in order to understand the period’s economic and social developments, analysing the institutions and societies resulting from contact with Iberian peoples in America and Asia. The outcome is a study that nuances and contests an excessively-negative yet prevalent image of the Iberian societies, explores the difficult relationship between empires and globalization and opens paths for comparisons to other imperial formations. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxvi Front Matter ....Pages 1-3 Global Context and the Rise of Europe: Iberia and the Atlantic (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 5-49 Iberian Overseas Expansion and European Trade Networks (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 51-97 Domestic Expansion in the Iberian Kingdoms (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 99-143 Back Matter ....Pages 145-152 Front Matter ....Pages 153-153 The Empires of a Composite Monarchy, 1521–1598: Problem or Solution? (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 155-209 The Crystallization of a Political Economy, c. 1580–1630 (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 211-256 Back Matter ....Pages 257-267 Front Matter ....Pages 269-269 Global Forces and European Competition (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 271-321 The Luso-Spanish Composite Global Empire, 1598–1640 (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 323-376 Ruptures, Resilient Empires, and Small Divergences (Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla)....Pages 377-434 Back Matter ....Pages 435-442 Back Matter ....Pages 443-520