Before European Hegemony Part I

The first section of Before European Hegemony addresses the formation of world systems. The author introduces her main argument: that there was no “inherent historical necessity” that gave the West an advantage over the East or kept the East from being precursors to the modern world system. She stresses that Europe in the Middle Ages was significantly less advanced than it is popularly perceived to be. She introduces three main trading centers of Europe (the European subsystem) during this time: east-central France, the region of Flanders, and the Italian ports.

She describes the nature of the French Champagne fairs in which merchants would gather at fairs that usually coincided with major holidays. The fairs eventually failed because they became inconvenient geographically to the world system and trade routes by water shifted. Next she discusses the textile industry in the region of Flanders and its effect on trade and class structure. The impact of the Black Death on population expansion as well as their dependency on other countries for raw materials led to the decline of the region of Flanders. Lastly, she discusses the Italian port cities of Genoa and Venice. Their location allowed them to serve as a connection for Europe to the east. The impact of the plague on trade routes in Italy is evaluated.

I find the thesis of this book interesting as she is attempting to argue that the West is not inherently better than the East. In much of our education we are taught from a Western point of view and I am interested to read more of her critique of this opinion.

However, I wonder if she will consider Africa as a significant world systems force. In my Africana Studies class we discussed how Africa is often pushed to the outskirts when evaluating powerful world systems of the past. I hope she will further expand upon this notion.