Abu-Lughod 3

The third, and final, section of this book looks at Asia and trading. Difficult weather conditions in this part of the world hinder both travel and trade which led to a cultural scattering. Because of India’s local wealth and plethora of resources, they have been somewhat kept out of the world system—they were more producers than they were traders. While the city-state of Malacca continued to play a large role in trading, the Strait of Malacca’s importance declined when other ports in various locations began to open up. China too played a big role here—a lot of their trading happened off the books but their society was just as advanced if not more than Europe’s by the 15^th century. In the conclusion of the book, Abu-Lughod discusses why the West “won” and how extremely other cultures had been cut down by the Black Death. Europe’s conquest of the America’s and the exportation of slaves from Africa were the 2 big factors that ultimately changed the world system. She finishes the book explaining that there are no definite principles of world systems because they are always changing according to external factors.

Reading this section was a little more interesting than the others. Through grade school, you obviously cover the history of the US extensively and in some classes you even cover the history of Europe. Even though I lived in Asia for 6 years I was never given even a brief history of Asia. Because this information was more new to me, I found this last section of the book held my attention a little better.

This section talked about China’s technological advances. From paper making, to iron work and even building Asia has always been a step ahead of the rest of us. Then why is it that the “West won”? I see how the Black Death took a toll on all aspects of these societies, but Asia still wasn’t capable of rising above everyone else even with their advances in so many other areas?