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But the commodities that circulated in this new global exchange were not staples but luxuries; their volume was tiny. In the sixteenth century, an average of fifty to seventy ships departed annually for the East from Lisbon;123 and the traffic in manufactures like porcelain or textiles flowed mainly westward towards Europe and not the other way rou
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire
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This was a sophisticated mercantile economy in which paper money was supplied by private enterprise and credit was based on the sale of contracts for the future supply of salt to the government – a commodity for which demand was exceptionally stable.
John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
the promise of postapartheid South Africa has not been realized. For its part, Nigeria was a British colony for a century before gaining its independence in 1960. The country’s subsequent history can only be described as deeply troubled; its initial decades were marked by civil war, secessionist challenges, and military rule. Its politics seem to h
... See moreRichard Haass • The World
