Economic History

From the Bronze Age to the Present

A narrative history of economic life across 19 chapters. What actually happened, why it happened, and what the models that formalize it leave out.

Part I The Ancient and Post-Classical World (pre-1500)

1 Foundations: Agriculture, States, and the Classical Empires Surplus, redistribution, coinage, Rome and Han at peak, the structural reset
2 Post-Classical World Systems Song commercial revolution, the Caliphates, Indian Ocean trade, European feudalism
3 The High Medieval System and the 14th-Century Rupture Pax Mongolica, Italian banking, Black Death, the East-West bifurcation
4 The Non-Eurasian World on the Eve of Contact Aztec tribute, Inca redistribution, Great Zimbabwe, Polynesian voyaging

Part II Early Modern Globalization (1500–1870)

Part III Money, War, and the International Order (1815–1971)

Part IV The Contemporary World (1971–Present)

Companion Artifacts

Interactive maps, timelines, and data explorers that accompany the text

GDP per Capita Map

Choropleth of 180 economies, 1820–present. The data surface for growth, divergence, and convergence claims.

Trade Routes Map

Silk Road, Atlantic, and Compare tabs. Routes, ports, and era narratives from antiquity to the 19th century.

History of Economic Thought

Interactive timeline of schools, figures, and influence. Where ideas became economic events.

Pre-1820 Cross-Core Explorer

Welfare-ratio data for the comparable cores before the Great Divergence.