Europe and the World in the Early Modern and Modern Eras

The study of Europe and the world is studied on the basis of a comparative study of the seas as communication highways and of the seabourne empires, with an emphasis on the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans.

The chronological focus is on the period from the 15th to the early 19th centuries, although, where appropriate, case studies from earlier and later periods are also examined.

The study of this theme draws on current methodological discussions on world history, network analysis and histoire croisee. It raises a range of questions, principal among them being the degree to which the study of local, regional, and national histories can be enhanced by the recent turn to world and global history.

The main issues addressed are the history of empires and colonialism, the ethnic and religious composition of commercial networks, the economic functions of ports, the cosmopolitan culture promoted by cross-cultural commercial exchanges, and the impact of nation-states and their mercantilistic policies on cross-cultural and inter-ethnic commercial networks.

Europe’s encounter with the non–European world is also studied in terms of colonial society and its inter-connections with the European metropoles. We have special competence in the Portuguese and Spanish Empires.

A key aspect here is the transfer of intellectual and scientific ideas to the New World of the Americas, Africa and the Orient, and the impact of this encounter on intellectual and scientific ideas in Europe. See the History of Ideas and the History of Science .

Professors with a research interest in this area are Diogo Ramada Curto , Anthony Molho , Antonella Romano , Bartolome Yun-Casalilla