Robert S DuPlessis | Swarthmore College (original) (raw)
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Papers by Robert S DuPlessis
University of South Carolina Press eBooks, May 21, 2020
The growth of the Atlantic economy should be one of the great themes of early modern history. But... more The growth of the Atlantic economy should be one of the great themes of early modern history. But the actual emergence and precise contours of that economy are difficult to discern. The data that reveal the increasing dynamism and commercial importance of the Atlantic basin were generated within empires constituted by and centered on European metropoles,' and up to the present, scholarship has largely remained within and mirrored those imperial bound aries. As a result, it is difficult to discern when (if at all) and the extent to which an economy rather than an aggregate of economies formed in the Atlantic basin. Is it, in fact, correct to speak of an Atlantic economy, or should we refer to the English imperial Atlantic economy, the French Atlantic economy, the Dutch, and so forth.? One way to try to answer this question is to look at goods consumed within the Atlantic world. If an Atlantic economy was coming into existence, we would expect that the process of material standardization that Timothy Breen has proposed for eighteenth-century British North America would obtain more widely.^ Is that what happened.? Did European expansion issue in common Atlantic consumption patterns.? Or was the fact that New World colonies were established by distinct European nations reflected in diverse colonial or imperial material cultures.? The Atlantic-even just the North Atlantic-covers a large space, and even in the early modern period the commodity flows were substantial. So in order to get a handle on them, and on the larger issue, this chapter concentrates on imported cloth in four cities in continental British and French North America and their more and less distant market areas, together with brief comparisons with England and France. It employs primary data bearing on (and for the most part still housed in) Montreal, Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans and their commercial hinterlands. Each of these cities was a leading center in its empire and its region, trading with Native Americans, African Americans, and European Americans alike to export staples and supply necessary imports. This essay encompasses the period from the late seventeenth century to the 1760s/70s, a time when, scholars hold, the most rapid and major changes in con sumption occurred, adding up, in some accounts, to a consumer revolution.^ The
Amsterdam University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2023
Radical History Review, 1975
French Colonial History, 2002
Radical History Review, Oct 1, 1987
The Sixteenth century journal, 1991
The American Historical Review, Feb 1, 1985
Enterprise and Society, 2015
The Journal of Modern History, Dec 1, 1978
Routledge eBooks, Apr 8, 2014
Seventeenth-century troubles spared no form of commerce, though intercontinental trade was least ... more Seventeenth-century troubles spared no form of commerce, though intercontinental trade was least afflicted and for the shortest time. Already in the 1640s Asian routes began to recover, Atlantic a decade later. By about 1700 revival was general, including within Europe. Established products were central to renascent trade. Many, however, now came from new areas: the Caribbean replaced Brazil as premier sugar supplier, while Brazil became the world’s preeminent source of gold; Scotland, Ireland, and Silesia turned into important linens exporters. Novel items (such as potatoes, maize, tomatoes, and cotton textiles) were introduced or metamorphosed from curiosity to commonplace.
Winterthur Portfolio, Mar 1, 2018
University of South Carolina Press eBooks, May 21, 2020
The growth of the Atlantic economy should be one of the great themes of early modern history. But... more The growth of the Atlantic economy should be one of the great themes of early modern history. But the actual emergence and precise contours of that economy are difficult to discern. The data that reveal the increasing dynamism and commercial importance of the Atlantic basin were generated within empires constituted by and centered on European metropoles,' and up to the present, scholarship has largely remained within and mirrored those imperial bound aries. As a result, it is difficult to discern when (if at all) and the extent to which an economy rather than an aggregate of economies formed in the Atlantic basin. Is it, in fact, correct to speak of an Atlantic economy, or should we refer to the English imperial Atlantic economy, the French Atlantic economy, the Dutch, and so forth.? One way to try to answer this question is to look at goods consumed within the Atlantic world. If an Atlantic economy was coming into existence, we would expect that the process of material standardization that Timothy Breen has proposed for eighteenth-century British North America would obtain more widely.^ Is that what happened.? Did European expansion issue in common Atlantic consumption patterns.? Or was the fact that New World colonies were established by distinct European nations reflected in diverse colonial or imperial material cultures.? The Atlantic-even just the North Atlantic-covers a large space, and even in the early modern period the commodity flows were substantial. So in order to get a handle on them, and on the larger issue, this chapter concentrates on imported cloth in four cities in continental British and French North America and their more and less distant market areas, together with brief comparisons with England and France. It employs primary data bearing on (and for the most part still housed in) Montreal, Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans and their commercial hinterlands. Each of these cities was a leading center in its empire and its region, trading with Native Americans, African Americans, and European Americans alike to export staples and supply necessary imports. This essay encompasses the period from the late seventeenth century to the 1760s/70s, a time when, scholars hold, the most rapid and major changes in con sumption occurred, adding up, in some accounts, to a consumer revolution.^ The
Amsterdam University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2023
Radical History Review, 1975
French Colonial History, 2002
Radical History Review, Oct 1, 1987
The Sixteenth century journal, 1991
The American Historical Review, Feb 1, 1985
Enterprise and Society, 2015
The Journal of Modern History, Dec 1, 1978
Routledge eBooks, Apr 8, 2014
Seventeenth-century troubles spared no form of commerce, though intercontinental trade was least ... more Seventeenth-century troubles spared no form of commerce, though intercontinental trade was least afflicted and for the shortest time. Already in the 1640s Asian routes began to recover, Atlantic a decade later. By about 1700 revival was general, including within Europe. Established products were central to renascent trade. Many, however, now came from new areas: the Caribbean replaced Brazil as premier sugar supplier, while Brazil became the world’s preeminent source of gold; Scotland, Ireland, and Silesia turned into important linens exporters. Novel items (such as potatoes, maize, tomatoes, and cotton textiles) were introduced or metamorphosed from curiosity to commonplace.
Winterthur Portfolio, Mar 1, 2018