The Unmaking of the Mediterranean Trade Hegemony: International Trade Rivalry and the Commercial Revolution

Abstract

The shift in the locus of European trade from the markets of the Mediterranean to the North Atlantic overthrew a centuries old pattern of commerce and established the basis for the predominant role of North Atlantic Europe in the era of industrialization. While the expression “commercial revolution” no longer has quite the currency that it once enjoyed, students of the early modern economy have not been negligent about trying to understand the causes of the commercial shift. The impact of entrepreneurship and Weltanschauung , capital accumulation, technical innovation in shipping and industry, and the economic and political organization of nation-states have all received attention from students of the age.