Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Freakonomics of 18th Century Europe

Prompt: "The spectacular prosperity enjoyed by Europe in the 18th c. was dependent upon extra-European contributions."

Thesis: The prosperity enjoyed by Western Europe in the 18th c., namely by the Dutch, English, and French, was greatly but not entirely dependent upon extra-European contributions.

- Asia was a huge economic sector for GB and they imported tea and exported gold to Asia

-Africa played a huge role in the acquisition of gold by the British

-Africa provided slaves for the lucrative transatlantic slave trade

-America provided a market for slaves for the Dutch, English and French

-American sugar plantations were perhaps the single most prosperous asset in the French economy.

-The American colonies served as a market for British goods

-The East India Companies of the French, British, and Dutch were all extremely prosperous

-Europe was the continent to tie together the strands of the world, and was heftily rewarded for doing so.

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