The Political Economy of Empire in the Early Modern World

This collection of essays draws on fresh readings of classic texts as well as rigorous research in the archives of Europe's greatest imperial power. Its contributors paint a powerful picture of the nature and implementation of political economy in the long eighteenth century, from the East to the West Indies. This volume recasts our understanding of the practical and theoretical foundations and dynamic experiences of early modern imperialism. The imperial encounter with political economy was neither uniform across political, economic, cultural, and religious constellations nor static across time. The contributions collected in this volume address, with undeniable pertinence for the struggles of later periods, the moral and military ambiguity of profits and power as well as the often jealous interactions between different solutions to the problem of empire. By synthesising economic, intellectual, and cultural historiographies, the book presents a powerful mosaic of imperial theories and practices contributing to the creation of the modern world and to the most pressing concerns of our time Notes on Contributors Foreword: Of Empire and Political Economy / Richard Drayton Introduction: The Political Economy of Empire / Sophus Reinert and Pernille Røge PART I. THEORISING THE EARLY MODERN EMPIRE 1. An Empire of Trade Commercial Reason of State in Seventeenth-Century Holland / Jan Hartman and Arthur Weststeijn 2. A Natural Order of Empire : The Physiocratic Vision of Colonial France after the Seven Years War / Pernille Røge 3. Adam Smith on American Economic Development and the Future of the European Atlantic Empires / Thomas Hopkins 4. Views from the South : Images of Britain and its Empire in Portuguese and Spanish Political Economic Discourse, c. 1740-1810 / Gabriel Paquette 5. The Empire of Emulation : A Quantitative Analysis of Economic Translations in the European World, 1500-1849 / Sophus Reinert PART II. IMPERIAL EXPERIENCES 6. War, Peace, and the Rise of the London Stock Market / Giles Parkinson 7. The Impact of Gifts and Trade : Georgia Colonists and Yamacraw Indians in the Colonial American Southeast / Claire Levenson 8. Retrenchment, Reform and the Practice of Military-Fiscalism in the Early East India Company State / James Lees 9. How Feeding Slaves Shaped the French Atlantic : Mercantilism and the Crisis of Food Provisioning in the Franco-Caribbean during the 17th and 18th Centuries / Bertie Mandelblatt. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Foreword: Of Empire and Political Economy 8 Acknowledgements 13 Notes on Contributors 14 Introduction: The Political Economy of Empire 16 Part I Theorising the Early Modern Empire 24 1 An Empire of Trade: Commercial Reason of State in Seventeenth-Century Holland 26 2 A Natural Order of Empire: The Physiocratic Vision of Colonial France after the Seven Years’ War 47 3 Adam Smith on American Economic Development and the Future of the European Atlantic Empires 68 4 Views from the South: Images of Britain and Its Empire in Portuguese and Spanish Political Economic Discourse, ca. 1740–1810 91 5 The Empire of Emulation: A Quantitative Analysis of Economic Translations in the European World, 1500–1849 120 Part II Imperial Experiences 144 6 War, Peace and the Rise of the London Stock Market 146 7 The Impact of Gifts and Trade: Georgia Colonists and Yamacraw Indians in the Colonial American Southeast 162 8 Retrenchment, Reform and the Practice of Military-Fiscalism in the Early East India Company State 188 9 How Feeding Slaves Shaped the French Atlantic: Mercantilism and the Crisis of Food Provisioning in the Franco-Caribbean during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 207 Select Bibliography 236 Index 250 "This volume recasts our understanding of the practical and theoretical foundations and dynamic experiences of early modern imperialism. The imperial encounter with political economy was neither uniform across political, economic, cultural, and religious constellations nor static across time. The contributions collected in this volume address, with undeniable pertinence for the struggles of later periods, the moral and military ambiguity of profits and power as well as the often jealous interactions between different solutions to the problem of empire. By synthesising economic, intellectual, and cultural historiographies, the book presents a powerful mosaic of imperial theories and practices contributing to the creation of the modern world and to the most pressing concerns of our time"-- Provided by publisher Ce volume refond notre compréhension des bases(fondations) pratiques et théoriques et des expériences dynamiques de premier impérialisme moderne. La rencontre impériale avec l'économie politique n'était ni uniforme à travers des constellations politiques, économiques, culturelles et religieuses, ni statique à travers le temps. En synthétisant des historiographies économiques, intellectuelles et culturelles, le livre présente une mosaïque puissante de théories impériales et des pratiques contribuant à la création du monde moderne et aux préoccupations(entreprises) les plus urgentes de notre temps."