England a backwater in the mid 18th Century? Au contraire. Before the Aramada (1588), England might have been regarded as a backwater. In 1750, it was a contender for Numver One Nation. jks
--- "Perelman, Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I hope that we can discuss this without acrimony. I > understand that at > the time of the British conquest of India, India was > probably more > advanced in England, which was a backwater of > Europe. England had, > however, extraordinarily good cannons -- may be the > equivalent of our > airplanes in Iraq. India had nothing to counter > them. Unlike the US, > understand that England was able to harness some of > the traditional > feudal government structures in India. > > But please, I sense some irritation boiling up in > this discussion as > well as the Russian thread. Let's keep it amicable. > > > Michael Perelman > Economics Department > California State University > michael at ecst.csuchico.edu > Chico, CA 95929 > 530-898-5321 > fax 530-898-5901 > > -----Original Message----- > From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Doug > Henwood > Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 10:08 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Eurocentrism and capitalism > > Devine, James wrote: > > >It looks to me as if the basic story is that the > Western Europeans > >enjoyed some sort of luck that has nothing to do > with genetic or > >cultural differences between Europeans and Asians. > This luck allowed > >them to (1) conquer the Asians and other > non-Europeans and (2) get > >beyond mere market economics to develop the > capitalist mode of > >production before the Asians and other > non-Europeans did so. > > I know this is dangerous territory, since it will > cause explosions in > certain volatile quarters. But is "luck" the right > word? Something > happened within Europe that encouraged conquest and > led to the > reinvestment of surplus rather than its consumption. > I realize that > historians have devoted their lives to examining > just what this > something was, but luck makes it sounds like winning > at roulette > rather than something explicable by social science. > > Doug > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
