The world the plague made : the Black Death and the rise of Europe

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Title:

Author:

Belich, James, 1956- author.

ISBN:

9780691215662

Personal Author:

Belich, James, 1956- author.

Physical Description:

ix, 622 pages : maps ; 24 cm

General Note:

Source of cataloging data: WCP

Abstract:

"In 1346, a catastrophic plague beset Europe and its neighbours. The Black Death was a human tragedy that abruptly halved entire populations and caused untold suffering, but it also brought about a cultural and economic renewal on a scale never before witnessed. The World the Plague Made is a panoramic history of how the bubonic plague revolutionized labour, trade, and technology and set the stage for Europe's global expansion. James Belich takes readers across centuries and continents to shed new light on one of history's greatest paradoxes. Why did Europe's dramatic rise begin in the wake of the Black Death? Belich shows how plague doubled the per capita endowment of everything even as it decimated the population. Many more people had disposable incomes. Demand grew for silks, sugar, spices, furs, gold, and slaves. Europe expanded to satisfy that demand-and plague provided the means. Labour scarcity drove more use of waterpower, wind power, and gunpowder. Technologies like water-powered blast furnaces, heavily gunned galleons, and musketry were fast-tracked by plague. A new 'crew culture' of 'disposable males' emerged to man the guns and galleons. Setting the rise of Western Europe in global context, Belich demonstrates how the mighty empires of the Middle East and Russia also flourished after the plague, and how European expansion was deeply entangled with the Chinese and other peoples throughout the world."-- Front jacket flap.

Contents:

Introduction : Plague paradoxes -- Prologue : Globalising Europe --Rethinking globalisation and divergence -- The equine revolution -- Super-Crops, Super-Crafts -- Re-setting Europe -- Part One : A plague of mysteries -- Chapter 1 : The Black Death and the Plague Era -- The Black Death -- Bringing in the Dead -- Where was the Black Death? -- The Plague Era] -- Chapter 2 : The Origins and Dynamics of the Black Death -- Plague Prehistory -- Mongols and Marmots versus Gerbils and Camels -- Rats on Trial -- Immunity and Resistance -- Plague's Endings -- Part Two : Plague and Expansionism in Western Europe -- Chapter 3 : A Golden Age? Economy and Society in the Early Plague Era -- A Plagued Economy -- A Golden Age for Whom? -- Mass Consumption?] -- Chapter 4 : Expansive Trades -- The Northern Hunt Trades -- Southern Trades : Sugar, Spice, Silk -- and Slaves] -- Chapter 5 : Plague Revolutions? -- A Late Medieval Industrial Revolution? -- The Print Revolution and the Scribal Transition -- A Gunpowder Revolution? -- Chapter 6 : Expansive Labour : Castas, Race Mothers and Disposable Males -- Race and Reproduction -- Race Mothers and the Settler Divergence -- Disposable Males : European "Crew Culture" -- Chapter 7 : States, Interstates, and the European Expansion Kit -- Warfare States -- Transnationalisms, Networks, and Shape-Shifters -- The Western European Expansion Kit -- Part Three : Western Europe or West Eurasia? -- Chapter 8 : Plague's Impact in the Muslim South -- The Mamluk Empire and the Maghreb -- Ottoman Heartlands : the Balkans and Anatolia -- Greater Persia -- Shared revolutions? -- Chapter 9 : Early modern Ming-Muslim Globalisation -- Early Modern Muslim Mercantile Expansion -- Chinese Outreach -- Joint Ventures in Southeast Asia] -- Chapter 10 : Entwined Empires : the Genoese Paradox and Iberian Expansion -- Genoese Imperialisms -- Genoese Plague Responses : The Origin of Modern Capitalism? -- Iberian Entanglements : Portugal -- Iberian Entanglements : Spain -- Chapter 11 : The Ottomans and the Great Diversion -- The Recovery state -- Ottoman Urban Colonisation and Slavery -- The Ottomans and Expansion beyond West Eurasia -- Chapter 12 : The Dutch Puzzle and the Mobilisation of Eastern Europe -- Plague and Empire in Eastern Europe -- Plague, Institutions, and the Rise of Holland -- Dutch Expansion -- Amsterdam's empires -- Chapter 13 : Muslim Colonial Empires -- The Moroccan Colonial Empire -- The Omani Colonial Empire -- The Mughals : a West Eurasian Colonial Empire? -- Chapter 14 : Plague and Russian Expansionism -- Novgorod : "Rome of the Waterways" -- Muscovite Expansion to 1500 -- Hybridity and Empire on the Steppes -- Trade, Settlement and Hunting in Siberia, 1390-1800 -- Russia, China and Global Hunting -- Part Four : Expansion, Industry and Empire -- Chapter 15. Empire? What Empire? European Expansion to 1800 -- Africans -- The Americas -- India -- China's World -- Entwined Empires -- Chapter 16 : Plaguing Britain -- England's Plague Era -- Peculiar Institutions? -- London's Empires -- Peripheral Peripheries? -- Transposing Lancashire and Bengal -- Conclusion.

Subject Term:

Black Death -- Influence -- Social aspects -- Europe.

Black Death -- Influence -- Economic aspects -- Europe.

Medicine, Medieval.

Middle Ages.

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Summary

A groundbreaking history of how the Black Death unleashed revolutionary change across the medieval world and ushered in the modern age

In 1346, a catastrophic plague beset Europe and its neighbours. The Black Death was a human tragedy that abruptly halved entire populations and caused untold suffering, but it also brought about a cultural and economic renewal on a scale never before witnessed. The World the Plague Made is a panoramic history of how the bubonic plague revolutionized labour, trade, and technology and set the stage for Europe's global expansion.

James Belich takes readers across centuries and continents to shed new light on one of history's greatest paradoxes. Why did Europe's dramatic rise begin in the wake of the Black Death? Belich shows how plague doubled the per capita endowment of everything even as it decimated the population. Many more people had disposable incomes. Demand grew for silks, sugar, spices, furs, gold, and slaves. Europe expanded to satisfy that demand--and plague provided the means. Labour scarcity drove more use of waterpower, wind power, and gunpowder. Technologies like water-powered blast furnaces, heavily gunned galleons, and musketry were fast-tracked by plague. A new "crew culture" of "disposable males" emerged to man the guns and galleons.

Setting the rise of Western Europe in global context, Belich demonstrates how the mighty empires of the Middle East and Russia also flourished after the plague, and how European expansion was deeply entangled with the Chinese and other peoples throughout the world.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this sweeping study, University of Oxford historian Belich (Replenishing the Earth) contends that the bubonic plague was crucial to the emergence of the modern world and the rise of western Europe as an economic and political power. Although the Black Death claimed a 50% morality rate in many places, it also led to a "plague boom" from 1350 to 1500, as the same natural resources were now essentially available to half as many people. The collapse of the feudal system because of labor shortages and urban migration led to a sharp increase in real wages, the transformation of the desperate poor "from a large majority into a large minority," and a building spike in London, Paris, and other metropolises. Belich also examines the plague's effects on Russia, the Ottoman Empire, eastern Europe, and the Muslim world, yet as he travels nearly five centuries from the emergence of the Black Death in the Black Sea/Volga region in 1345, his arguments for its central role in the establishment of racial castes in Latin America, the development of Siberia, and other far-flung matters grow more tenuous. Readers may also find themselves overwhelmed by the deluge of economic and other data. Still, this is a provocative and impressive history of an earth-shattering event. (July)

Library Journal Review

Historian Belich (Replenishing the Earth) makes the bold claim in this sweeping work of revisionist history that the Black Death, often called the bubonic plague, was the catalyst for Europe's dramatic rise to greatness. The Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History at the University of Oxford uses an approach he terms an "intensive global history." He posits that the successive strikes or waves of the bubonic plague in 1346 and beyond were the main drivers behind technological innovation, industrial advances, and massively expanded trade networks that enriched Europe materially and culturally. For example, the ripple effects of massive depopulation had immediate impact upon survivors, as disposable income doubled and labor shortages created an increased demand for goods and services that societies rushed to meet. Based upon an exhaustive array of sources and the latest information and scientific data on the infection, Belich asks the essential question: "Why Europe?" He explores the answer within a global framework that reveals how the empires of the Middle East and Russia also reaped benefits from the plague's terrible scythe. VERDICT Densely detailed but rich in erudition and startling new insights, this fresh look at the impact of the Black Death upon world history is a must for history lovers and plague afficionados alike.--Peggy Kurkowski

List of Maps	p. ix
Introduction: Plague Paradoxes	p. 1
Prologue: Globalising Europe	p. 7
I Rethinking Globalisation and Divergence	p. 7
II The Equine Revolution	p. 12
III Super-Crops, Super-Crafts	p. 15
IV Resetting Europe	p. 19
Part I A Plague of Mysteries	p. 27
1 The Black Death and the Plague Era	p. 33
I The Black Death	p. 33
II Bringing in the Dead	p. 37
III Where Was the Black Death?	p. 45
IV The Plague Era	p. 47
2 The Origins and Dynamics of the Black Death	p. 53
I Plague Prehistory	p. 53
II Mongols and Marmots versus Gerbils and Camels	p. 56
III Rats on Trial	p. 63
IV Immunity and Resistance	p. 73
V Plagues Endings	p. 76
Part II Plague and Expansionism in Western Europe	p. 79
3 A Golden Age? Economy and Society in the Early Plague Era	p. 83
I A Plagued Economy	p. 86
II A Golden Age for Whom?	p. 94
III Mass Consumption?	p. 98
4 Expansive Trades	p. 106
I The Northern Hunt Trades	p. 107
II Southern Trades: Sugar, Spice, Silk-and Slaves	p. 113
5 Plague Revolutions?	p. 123
I A Late Medieval Industrial Revolution?	p. 123
II The Print Revolution and the Scribal Transition	p. 129
III A Gunpowder Revolution?	p. 132
6 Expansive Labour: Castas, Race Mothers, and Disposable Males	p. 140
I Race and Reproduction	p. 141
II Race Mothers and the Settler Divergence	p. 149
III Disposable Males: European "Crew Culture"	p. 158
7 States, Interstates, and the European Expansion Kit	p. 170
I Warfare States	p. 170
II Transnationalisms, Networks, and Shape-Shifters	p. 174
III The Western European Expansion Kit	p. 180
Part III Western Europe or West Eurasia?	p. 189
8 Plague's Impact in the Muslim South	p. 191
I The Mamluk Empire and the Maghreb	p. 193
II Ottoman Heartlands: The Balkans and Anatolia	p. 202
III Greater Persia	p. 207
IV Shared Revolutions?	p. 210
9 Early Modern Ming-Muslim Globalisation	p. 220
I Early Modern Muslim Mercantile Expansion	p. 222
II Chinese Outreach	p. 229
III Joint Ventures in Southeast Asia	p. 234
10 Entwined Empires: The Genoese Paradox and Iberian Expansion	p. 241
I Genoese Imperialisms	p. 243
II Genoese Plague Responses: The Origin of Modern Capitalism?	p. 248
III Iberian Entanglements: Portugal	p. 255
IV Iberian Entanglements: Spain	p. 260
11 The Ottomans and the Great Diversion	p. 268
I The Recovery State	p. 268
II Ottoman Urban Colonisation and Slavery	p. 275
III The Ottomans and Expansion beyond West Eurasia	p. 282
12 The Dutch Puzzle and the Mobilisation of Eastern Europe	p. 289
I Plague and Empire in Eastern Europe	p. 292
II Plague, Institutions, and the Rise of Holland	p. 300
III Dutch Expansion	p. 308
IV Amsterdam's Empires	p. 312
13 Muslim Colonial Empires	p. 319
I The Moroccan Colonial Empire	p. 320
II The Omani Colonial Empire	p. 323
III The Mughals: A West Eurasian Colonial Empire?	p. 327
14 Plague and Russian Expansion	p. 341
I Novgorod: "Rome of the Waterways"	p. 344
II Muscovite Expansion to 1500	p. 348
III Hybridity and Empire on the Steppes	p. 353
IV Trade, Settlement, and Hunting in Siberia, 1390-1800	p. 358
V Russia, China, and Global Hunting	p. 367
Part IV Expansion, Industry, and Empire	p. 373
15 Empire? What Empire? European Expansion to 1800	p. 377
I Africans	p. 380
II The Americas	p. 385
III India	p. 392
IV China's World	p. 399
V Entwined Empires	p. 403
16 Plaguing Britain	p. 408
I England's Plague Era	p. 410
II Peculiar Institutions?	p. 414
III London's Empires	p. 419
IV Peripheral Peripheries?	p. 424
V Transposing Lancashire and Bengal	p. 434
Conclusion	p. 441
Acknowledgments	p. 449
Notes	p. 451
Index	p. 609

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Reviews (2)

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