How and why did Europe surpass Asia as a center of political and economic power in the 18th
and 19th centuries?
As late as 1750, the wealthiest and most developed parts of the world were still in Asia,
mainly in India and China. For centuries, these parts of Asia, as well as others, housed
sophisticated industries for the manufacture and exchange of numerous commodities that were
highly desired around the world. The precise moment when this shifted is not entirely clear, but
certainly by 1820, the locus of the world economy had swung dramatically westward to Britain.
This major shift primarily occurred because of a combination of factors both internal to Britain
and in relation to British relations with the Asian economy. Specifically, in Britain, the
industrialization of the economy allowed Britain to take control of the global trade in cotton
textiles, while the expansion of British colonial interests in Asia aided in weakening the Indian
and Chinese economies.
Body 1: Industrialization
– What was it? Technological change AND social change – urbanization, shift in labor
– Why Britain? British ideology – mercantilism (protectionism, national manufacturing
base), British state power (labor discipline, enclosure, industrial demand in navy),
existing competitive, but inferior, situation with Indian producers.
Body 2: Foreign Policy – India
– British colonial control of India from 1750s onward, reorganization of Indian economy,
dismantle middle-men, worsen conditions of labor, dismantle political institutions in
favor of Company control
– Result is growing Company profits, declining demand among Indians for luxury goods
(political courts), and general deindustrialization in favor of more agrarian economy
Body 3: Foreign Policy – China
– Opium trade reverses centuries-long trade deficit with China, contributes to considerable
economic crisis in China that weakened Qing state and allowed British interests to
continue to expand control over southern China, leading to First Opium War 1839-42,
and resulting Treaty of Nanjing
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