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A single theme is pursued in this book - the trade between peoples of differing cultures through world history. Extending from the ancient world to the coming of the commercial revolution, Professor Curtin's discussion encompasses a broad and diverse group of trading relationships. Drawing on insights from economic history and anthropology, Professor Curtin has attempted to move beyond a Europe-centred view of history, to one that can help us understand the entire range of societies in the show more human past. Examples have been chosen that illustrate the greatest variety of trading relationships between cultures. The opening chapters look at Africa, while subsequent chapters treat the ancient world, the Mediterranean trade with China, the Asian trade in the east, and European entry into the trade with maritime Asia, the Armenian trade carriers of the seventeenth century, and the North American fur trade. Wide-ranging in its concern and the fruit of exhaustive research, the book is nevertheless written so as to be accessible and stimulating to the specialist and the student alike. show lessTags
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The title is like a brick to the face. It describes the contents in an almost painfully blunt and direct way. This book doesn't attempt to touch on all instances of cross-cultural trade in world history, so several large and important trades are mostly left out, such as the silk road. But that's a good thing, as the book instead sets out to describe all the myriad forms that cross-cultural trade has taken though out history. I didn't expect it, but was happy to find myself learning about the role of Armenians in land based trade in the era of the great trade companies, a whole lot about Africa, and perhaps my favorite, the Bugis of Southeast Asia. I could imagine that someone who doesn't find the idea of cross-cultural trade in world show more history all that incredibly exciting in and of itself might find this book to be a little dry. The title really is as blunt as a brick to the face. Cross-cultural trade in world history is what you get, nothing more, nothing less. But that's exactly what I wanted, I loved this book. show less
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Author Information
29 Works 917 Members
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philip de Armond Curtin was educated at Swarthmore College and at Harvard University, from which he received a Ph.D. in history in 1953. That same year he joined the Swarthmore faculty as an instructor and assistant professor. In 1956, he moved on to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he remained for show more 14 years. During that time he was chair of the Wisconsin University Program in Comparative World History, the Wisconsin African Studies Program, and for five years, Melville J. Herskovits Professor. In 1975, he joined the department of history at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to holding Guggenheim fellowships in 1966 and 1980 and being a senior fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Curtin has taken a leadership role in various organizations, including the African Studies Association, the International Congress of Africanists, and the American Historical Association. He also has gained recognition for his influential books on African history, including The Image of Africa (1964), Africa Remembered (1967), and The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (1969). In the latter, he demonstrated that the number of Africans who reached the New World during the centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade had been highly exaggerated. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Cross-Cultural Trade in World History
- Original publication date
- 1984-05-26
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 119
- Popularity
- 274,538
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.29)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
