Beyond the Silk Road: Manila Galleons, trade networks, global goods, and the integration of Atlantic and Pacific markets (1680–1840)

ABSTRACT This project offers a comparative and polycentric approach to the connection of trade nodes in the Asian, American, African, and European markets in the early modern period. These analyses reevaluate the great divergence debate by presenting new case studies at the local scale and observing the impact of global goods and changes in consumer behaviour connecting local markets of the Pacific and Atlantic area. In this manner, we explore the circulation and consumption of Chinese goods in the Americas and in Europe, as well as in the African slave market through the Royal Company of the Philippines. Conversely, we also analyse the impact of the introduction of Western goods (of American and European origin) into China.