Schedule of Weekly Readings and Questions

Chapter 4: Colonies, Enterprises, and Wealth

Identify: serfdom, Elbe, Amsterdam Bank, Bank of England, mercantilism, flyboats (fluijts), VOC, iron curtain of the seventeenth century.

1. Winners/Losers: This chapter--and Chapter 6--give us an opportunity to take stock of the international scene in Europe.

  • Look back on Chapters 1-3: Which country/countries was/were the dominant power(s) in the sixteenth century?
  • Which country/countries was/were the dominant political and economic power(s) in the seventeenth century? Were any countries in decline? If so, which ones, and why did they manifest decline?

    2. What were the main social and economic conditions that affected the European population as a whole, the countryside, and urban areas?

    3. What were the chief features of commerce and industry in the seventeenth century?

    4. Houston points out: "overseas expansion was perhaps the essence and the greatest achievement of seventeenth-century capitalism" (158). What evidence does his chapter present to support this claim?

    5. Why does Houston note that "overseas expansion was less spectacularly significant in reality than contemporary propagandists and some historians might lead us to expect" (161)?

    6. What role did colonies play in the European economy? How did Europeans think of non-Europeans?

    7. After reading this chapter, look at the image on p. 149. What aspects of the chapter does it illustrate?

    8. Alison Rowlands ends her chapter with a rather negative assessment about the traditional view that, in terms of social and economic conditions, the sixteenth century was an age of progress. Does Houston share her pessimism about progress when it comes to the seventeenth century?