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Before American Hegemony Summary

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In the historical text, Before European Hegemony, Janet L. Abu-Lughod unravels many themes as she tries to unveil the shaping of the world system between the 13th and 16th century. Two main themes that thread throughout the book and its entirety are the development of trade and that all participants in the world system merely had regional influence because they were interdependent societies. Technical, political and social advancements in many states and cities allowed them to flourish, including cities of the Champagne Fairs, Bruges and Ghent, Genoa and Venice and more. China participated in the advancement of trade and with their size and resources were on their way to global hegemony but chose not to. The development of each location caused them to prosper but their power only reigned throughout their sphere of influence and hardly expanded. Abu-Lughod argues that the result of their inability to expand caused no single country or state to dominate the world system during the 14th century. Cities of the Champagne Fairs (Abu- Lughod, 51) are one of the many prime examples of development within the world system. Champagne Fairs were an annual cycle of trading fairs held in towns within the Champagne region. The Champagne region is northeast of France, lying between the boundaries of Belgium and Paris, not excluding contemporary …show more content…

Abu- Lughod argues that before the West was able to rise, the East had to fall. Ironically, Muslims from Baghdad and Christians traded with each other secretly during the medieval era. The Persian Gulf and the Red Sea were in competition with one another because both offered alternate routes to the Indian Ocean. The repercussions of the Mongols conquest of Baghdad and Baghdad’s decline were that the Persian Gulf denied going through a power struggle with the Red

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