American Geographical Society

World Trade since 1431: Geography, Technology, and Capitalism by Peter J. HugillReview by: James E. McConnellGeographical Review, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Apr., 1994), pp. 242-244Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/215344 .

Accessed: 08/05/2014 23:39

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Geographical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toGeographical Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 23:39:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

houses and gardens to express their cultural independence. Planters may have been in the center and slaves on the margins of the plantation, but blacks and whites in the South were and are very much a part of each other's world.

Second, Vlach well describes individual auxiliary buildings and their uses, but he does not offer a typology of the plantation landscape or of the com- ponent buildings beyond the seven ensembles of individual plantations presented in Chapter 12. Were the building forms and predominant con- struction materials distributed across the South, or did they have specific regional patterns? He observes the variety of plantation landscapes but ties them more to the economic bases, whether a plantation produced rice, cotton, or sugarcane. He does not address the different developmental forms, as does Sam B. Hilliard in his studies of the plantation South. Vlach also makes limited use of vernacular house types as a means of understanding building forms, although he does cite the work of Fred B. Kniffen. Finally, there are some errors, such as references to baling of sea-island cotton, which actually was bagged to protect the long fibers, and to the orientation of houses in the coastal regions.

On the basis of the whole rather than specific points, "Back of the Big House" is well written and nicely illustrated with photographs and diagrams of plantations and individual buildings and offers important insights into their uses. Vlach discusses a topic that has received little scholarly attention, and he offers an interpretation that is interesting and provocative.-JOHN J. WINBERRY

WORLD TRADE SINCE 1431: Geography, Technology, and Capitalism. By PETER J. HUGILL. xxiv and 376 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., indexes. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. $59.95. ISBN 0- 8018-4241-7.

This book is about frontiers and the evolution of the present-day global capitalistic system. Peter J. Hugill has produced a well-written, comprehen- sive tome in which he argues quite convincingly that the capitalist system has moved through a number of transformations, each of which has been

shaped, in large part, by a series of technological breakthroughs. Over time, these cyclical developments in technology have enabled various peoples and nations to manipulate the environment, thereby expanding the geographical frontiers of production, trade, and geopolitical influence. Hugill's intent is to describe these frontiers of evolutionary change and to develop the central theme that "human interaction with the environment is always mediated

by technology." Hugill advances several main arguments to support his central premise.

At the outset, the choice of the year 1431 in the title of the book may puzzle

houses and gardens to express their cultural independence. Planters may have been in the center and slaves on the margins of the plantation, but blacks and whites in the South were and are very much a part of each other's world.

Second, Vlach well describes individual auxiliary buildings and their uses, but he does not offer a typology of the plantation landscape or of the com- ponent buildings beyond the seven ensembles of individual plantations presented in Chapter 12. Were the building forms and predominant con- struction materials distributed across the South, or did they have specific regional patterns? He observes the variety of plantation landscapes but ties them more to the economic bases, whether a plantation produced rice, cotton, or sugarcane. He does not address the different developmental forms, as does Sam B. Hilliard in his studies of the plantation South. Vlach also makes limited use of vernacular house types as a means of understanding building forms, although he does cite the work of Fred B. Kniffen. Finally, there are some errors, such as references to baling of sea-island cotton, which actually was bagged to protect the long fibers, and to the orientation of houses in the coastal regions.

On the basis of the whole rather than specific points, "Back of the Big House" is well written and nicely illustrated with photographs and diagrams of plantations and individual buildings and offers important insights into their uses. Vlach discusses a topic that has received little scholarly attention, and he offers an interpretation that is interesting and provocative.-JOHN J. WINBERRY

WORLD TRADE SINCE 1431: Geography, Technology, and Capitalism. By PETER J. HUGILL. xxiv and 376 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliog., indexes. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. $59.95. ISBN 0- 8018-4241-7.

This book is about frontiers and the evolution of the present-day global capitalistic system. Peter J. Hugill has produced a well-written, comprehen- sive tome in which he argues quite convincingly that the capitalist system has moved through a number of transformations, each of which has been

shaped, in large part, by a series of technological breakthroughs. Over time, these cyclical developments in technology have enabled various peoples and nations to manipulate the environment, thereby expanding the geographical frontiers of production, trade, and geopolitical influence. Hugill's intent is to describe these frontiers of evolutionary change and to develop the central theme that "human interaction with the environment is always mediated

by technology." Hugill advances several main arguments to support his central premise.

At the outset, the choice of the year 1431 in the title of the book may puzzle

242 242

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 23:39:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS

many nonhistorians. He chose that date because it was "the probable year in which the Portuguese navigator Velho first successfully sailed out into the Atlantic to the Azores and back to Portugal again." That event is sig- nificant, he asserts, because it "marks the true, if halting, return by Europeans to geographic expansion, an expansion that would quickly increase produc- tion, set Europe on the road ... to capitalism, and ensure a sustained five hundred years and more of European-led progress." Thus, throughout the book one recurring theme is that the capitalist world has developed and progressed because of the geographical expansion of production and that important technological innovations in communication and transportation provided the basis for this process of spatial diffusion.

Early in the book Hugill also makes the point that when discussing the development of the capitalist system, technology must be given the status of an independent variable. Fearful that some readers may misinterpret his viewpoint as one that supports "narrow technological determinism," he quickly notes that he is only suggesting that technological innovations "may be causative." A sense of the crucial role Hugill believes technology has played in the evolution of the global system is conveyed by the following accounting of how technological innovations shaped Europe's destiny from 800 to 1783. "Without the stirrup, the feudal state could not have emerged. Without feudal warfare, the nomads could not have been resisted. Without the surplus of horses generated by feudal warfare, the steppe frontier could not have been pushed east. Without feudalism, Europe could have been dominated by a single polity akin to the Carolingian state. Without ships and trade, the small politics of feudalism could not have survived and the advantages of the 'ghost acreage' could never have been enjoyed. Without bows and guns to protect merchant ships, the trade in bulk goods could not have been profitable." Although Hugill contends that technology was not the only force shaping Europe's destiny during that period, it is difficult to come away from this text with a viewpoint that these other forces were more than secondary factors.

In assessing the historical role of technology in human interaction and geographical expansion, Hugill relies on the temporal framework put forth by Lewis Mumford and Patrick Geddes. The story begins, therefore, with Eotechnic, which had its origins in the interregional trade of Europe after A.D. 800 and was characterized by an economy producing food, fiber, and fuel. The Paleotechnic, the first stage of the capitalist system, occurred with the switch from waterpower to steam power; and the third period, the Neotechnic, was the second stage of capitalist industry in which geographical expansion and interaction became truly global. In describing the changes in the technologies of transportation and production that occurred during these periods, Hugill also suggests that any explanation of the evolution of the world system must account for recent developments in long-wave macro-

243

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 23:39:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

economic theory. Special emphasis is given, therefore, to the notions of Joseph Schumpeter and Gerhard Mensch that waves of enterprise driven by tech-

nology characterize the capitalist system. After developing the main themes in the first chapter, Hugill expands

his thesis in the remaining six chapters: Technology and Geography in the Elaboration of Capitalism; The Triumph of the Ship; The Problem of Over- land Transportation: Canals, Rivers, and Railroads; The Return of Overland Route Flexibility: Bicycles, Cars, Trucks, and Busses; Aviation and the First Global System; and World System Theory and Geographic Reality. These

chapters represent excellent historical geography and clearly bridge a large gap in understanding the evolutionary patterns of world development. Of

special significance are Hugill's unfailing attention to detail and his persistent efforts to describe the effects of technology on both the spatial and temporal characteristics of the capitalist system.

In the final chapter, Hugill argues that since Velho's voyage some five centuries ago, increased production has been an obsession of the world

system. In the process, four frontiers have been important: one relates to

geography and spatial expansion; another involves the expansion of energy; a third is temporal expansion; and the fourth is the structure of the labor force. Continued prosperity of the capitalist world system, suggests Hugill, has depended on increasing production and has been achieved primarily by expanding each of these frontiers through technological advances. The world economic system of the 1990s is at a juncture, according to Hugill. In effect, it is a return to the conditions of the late eighteenth century, when "there are no more easy production gains to be won by geographic, temporal, or labor expansion." Furthermore, in this current era of globalism and inter- nationalism, transnational reorganization of capitalism may be expected. However, for the next cycle, Hugill contends that the focus "will be the research laboratories and universities rather than simply land, labor, energy, and industry as in previous cycles." If not, the future may involve slipping "slowly back into the Eotechnic, with a probable return to petty regional interests, including the use of war, as a declining production base is spread more and more thinly."-JAMES E. MCCONNELL

NORTH AMERICAN CATTLE-RANCHING FRONTIERS: Origins, Diffu- sion, and Differentiation. By TERRY G. JORDAN. xii and 444 pp.; maps, ills., notes, index. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993. $35.00 (hardbound), ISBN 0-8263-1421-X; $17.95 (softbound), ISBN 0- 8263-1422-8.

Over the past five hundred years cattle and the social systems developed to raise them have transformed landscapes throughout the New World. With "North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers," Terry Jordan has distilled a voluminous literature, accented it with welcome additions of primary ma-

economic theory. Special emphasis is given, therefore, to the notions of Joseph Schumpeter and Gerhard Mensch that waves of enterprise driven by tech-

nology characterize the capitalist system. After developing the main themes in the first chapter, Hugill expands

his thesis in the remaining six chapters: Technology and Geography in the Elaboration of Capitalism; The Triumph of the Ship; The Problem of Over- land Transportation: Canals, Rivers, and Railroads; The Return of Overland Route Flexibility: Bicycles, Cars, Trucks, and Busses; Aviation and the First Global System; and World System Theory and Geographic Reality. These

chapters represent excellent historical geography and clearly bridge a large gap in understanding the evolutionary patterns of world development. Of

special significance are Hugill's unfailing attention to detail and his persistent efforts to describe the effects of technology on both the spatial and temporal characteristics of the capitalist system.

In the final chapter, Hugill argues that since Velho's voyage some five centuries ago, increased production has been an obsession of the world

system. In the process, four frontiers have been important: one relates to

geography and spatial expansion; another involves the expansion of energy; a third is temporal expansion; and the fourth is the structure of the labor force. Continued prosperity of the capitalist world system, suggests Hugill, has depended on increasing production and has been achieved primarily by expanding each of these frontiers through technological advances. The world economic system of the 1990s is at a juncture, according to Hugill. In effect, it is a return to the conditions of the late eighteenth century, when "there are no more easy production gains to be won by geographic, temporal, or labor expansion." Furthermore, in this current era of globalism and inter- nationalism, transnational reorganization of capitalism may be expected. However, for the next cycle, Hugill contends that the focus "will be the research laboratories and universities rather than simply land, labor, energy, and industry as in previous cycles." If not, the future may involve slipping "slowly back into the Eotechnic, with a probable return to petty regional interests, including the use of war, as a declining production base is spread more and more thinly."-JAMES E. MCCONNELL

NORTH AMERICAN CATTLE-RANCHING FRONTIERS: Origins, Diffu- sion, and Differentiation. By TERRY G. JORDAN. xii and 444 pp.; maps, ills., notes, index. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993. $35.00 (hardbound), ISBN 0-8263-1421-X; $17.95 (softbound), ISBN 0- 8263-1422-8.

Over the past five hundred years cattle and the social systems developed to raise them have transformed landscapes throughout the New World. With "North American Cattle-Ranching Frontiers," Terry Jordan has distilled a voluminous literature, accented it with welcome additions of primary ma-

244 244

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 23:39:28 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions