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Cover blurb The expansion of Europe has dominated four centuries of the world's history. The disappearance in the last twenty years of the great colonial empires seems to mark the end of a long and remarkable period. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is why it ever took place at all. We have come to take the superiority of the Western world so much for granted in all the arts and sciences of life, and above all in military and political matters, that we forget that throughout the middle ages Europe was not stronger than her neighbours but weaker: not reaching after fresh conquests, but almost consistently on the defensive.What brought about this sudden and tremendous change in the history of Europe and the world? It was, Professor Cipolla argues iore it—in this lucid, witty and original work, the simultaneous technological development of guns and sailing ships, and the fusing of the two into a weapon that swept all before the gun-carrying ocean-going sailing ship. How, why, where, when and by whom were these developments achieved? This brief and fascinating study sheds brilliant light on a subject which ranges from bell-casting to Jesuit missions, from the weald of Sussex to the Imperial Court of China. With a deceptive lightness of touch Professor Cipolla has made in this book a notable contribution to economic history. He shows how the resources of capital and skilled labour were deployed to make the most of the new advances that were to shape four hundred years of history and to cast their shadow over the world we know to-day. The author Carlo M. Cipolla was born at Pavia in 1922. In 1944 he graduated from the University of Pavia with a thesis on the History of Farming in the Po valley. From 1946 to 1949 he studied in Paris and London. Since 1949 he has lectured on Economic History at many universities in Belgium, England, France, Italy, Sweden and the U.S.A. At present he is Professor of Economic History both at the University of Pavia and at the University of California (Berkeley). He is also a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, where he held the Chair of Economic History until this year. |
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Contents
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List of illustrations
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