Technology, Industry and Trade: The Levant versus Europe, 1250–1500 (Variorum Collected Studies)

This is the fifth collection of articles by Eliyahu Ashtor to be published by Variorum and focuses on the fundamental question of why, during the later Middle Ages, technology and industry declined, even collapsed, in the Muslim Levant, while simultaneously making enormous progress in the Christian West. An indefatigable researcher in archives all over the Mediterranean, Ashtor amassed quantities of data on this subject, and began to propose causal links between, on the one hand, demographic trends, types of political regime, economic policies and attitudes towards innovation, and on the other, the progress or decline of technology and industry. Although his work was cut short by his death in 1984, the information that Ashtor has made available, for instance on the sugar and the alkali industries, and the questions and hypotheses he has suggested will provide a vital basis for continuing research. The final article, dealing more specifically with the history of commerce, represents in effect a summation of the author's views on the role of the Jews in the trade of the Mediterranean. La cinquième collection d’articles d’Eliyahu Ashtor à Ãatre publiée par Variorum (pour les deux volumes encore disponibles, voir p.00) se concentre sur la raison fondamentale pour laquelle, durant le Bas Moyen Age, la technologie et l’industrie dans le Levant musulman étaient en déclin, voire mÃame en plein effondrement, alors qu’elles faisaient simultanément d’énormes progrès dans l’Ouest chrétien. Cherchiste infatiguable des archives méditerranéennes, Ashtor a amassé quantité d’informations à ce sujet et a commencé à suggérer l’existence de lien de cause entre: d’une part, les tendances démongraphiques, les types de régimes politiques, la politique économique et les attitudes vis-à -vis du changement et, d’autre part, le progrès ou le déclin de la technologie et de l’industrie. Bien que son travail ait été interrompu par sa mort en 1984, This is the fifth collection of articles by Eliyahu Ashtor to be published by Variorum and focuses on the fundamental question of why, during the later Middle Ages, technology and industry declined, even collapsed, in the Muslim Levant, while simultaneously making enormous progress in the Christian West. An indefatigable researcher in archives all over the Mediterranean, Ashtor amassed quantities of data on this subject, and began to propose causal links between, on the one hand, demographic trends, types of political regime, economic policies and attitudes towards innovation, and on the other, the progress or decline of technology and industry. Although his work was cut short by his death in 1984, the information that Ashtor has made available, for instance on the sugar and the alkali industries, and the questions and hypotheses he has suggested will provide a vital basis for continuing research. The final article, dealing more specifically with the history of commerce, represents in effect a summation of the author's views on the role of the Jews in the trade of the Mediterranean. La cinquième collection d’articles d’Eliyahu Ashtor à Ãatre publiée par Variorum (pour les deux volumes encore disponibles, voir p.00) se concentre sur la raison fondamentale pour laquelle, durant le Bas Moyen Age, la technologie et l’industrie dans le Levant musulman étaient en déclin, voire mÃame en plein effondrement, alors qu’elles faisaient simultanément d’énormes progrès dans l’Ouest chrétien. Cherchiste infatiguable des archives méditerranéennes, Ashtor a amassé quantité d’informations à ce sujet et a commencé à suggérer l’existence de lien de cause entre: d’une part, les tendances démongraphiques, les types de régimes politiques, la politique économique et les attitudes vis-à -vis du changement et, d’autre part, le progrès ou le déclin de la technologie et de l’industrie. Bien que son travail ait été interrompu par sa mort en 1984, Cover 1 Series 3 Half Title 4 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Preface 12 I Le Proche-Orient au Bas Moyen Age. Une région sous-développée 14 II The Economic Decline of the Middle East During the Later Middle Ages – An Outline 74 III Levantine Sugar Industry in the Later Middle Ages – An Example of Technological Decline 109 IV L'ascendant technologique de l'Occident médiéval 164 V Aspetti della espansione italiana nel Basso Medioevo 194 VI L'apogée du commerce vénitien au Levant. Un nouvel essai d'explication 220 VII Levantine Alkali Ashes and European Industries 240 VIII The Factors of Technological and Industrial Progress in the Later Middle Ages 288 IX The Jews in the Mediterranean Trade in the Later Middle Ages 318 Index 338 Economie,Decline;,Aspetti,delia;,European,Industries Economie Decline,Aspetti delia,European Industries Eliyahu Ashtor ; Edited By B.z. Kedar. English, French, And Italian. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.