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SUMMARY:Oxford Centre for Global History Inaugural Anthony Gwilliam Annual
  Lecture: Why Europe? Y. Pestis. The Black Death and the rise of Europe - 
 Professor James Belich (Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth Histor
 y\, University of Oxford)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20221014T160000
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20221018T180000
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/168d7f7f-58c2-4842-a838-d051197f9944/
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Friday 14 October 2022 at 16:00 for the Oxford Cent
 re for Global History's Inaugural 'Anthony Gwilliam' Annual Lecture by \n*
 *Professor James Belich** (Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth His
 tory) on “Why Europe? Y. Pestis. The Black Death and the Rise of Europe
 ”\n\nThe lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the Robin Gef
 fen Cafeteria. \n\n**Lecture Abstract**\nIn 1346\, Europe and its neighbou
 rs were beset by a terrible plague\, whose pathogen was Yersina Pestis. It
  halved populations\, and repeat strikes prevented recovery for centuries.
  It came to be called 'The Black Death' and this lecture argues that it tr
 iggered Western Europe's global expansion.\n\nThe lecture offers a new two
 -word answer to an old two-word question: Why Europe? Y. Pestis. The plagu
 e not only halved populations\, but also doubled the per capita endowment 
 of everything. For the first time\, many Europeans had disposable incomes.
  Demand for silks\, sugar\, spices\, furs\, slaves and gold all grew. Soon
  after the Black Death\, Europeans began reaching out beyond their own con
 tinent to meet these demands. To these motives for expansion\, plague adde
 d the means. Labour scarcity drove more use of water-power\, wind-power an
 d gunpowder. Many technologies - water-powered blast furnaces\, heavily-gu
 nned galleons\, musketry\, eye-glasses - were 'pressure-cooked' into exist
 ence or florescence by plague\, as was a new social formation\, “crew cu
 lture”\, which provided the manpower.\n\nIf plague had this effect in Eu
 rope\, why didn’t the Middle East expand too - it also suffered from the
  Black Death? This lecture’s answer is that it did: Ottoman and Safavid 
 empires also flourished after plague. Morocco\, Oman\, and the Mughals est
 ablished colonial empires\, at a distance from their homelands like those 
 of Europe. Early modern “European” expansion was actually West Eurasia
 n.\n\nFind out more here:\nhttps://www.history.ox.ac.uk/event/oxford-globa
 l-history-centre-inaugural-anthony-gwilliam-annual-lecture\nSpeakers:\nPro
 fessor James Belich (Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History\,
  University of Oxford)
LOCATION:H B Allen Centre\, Keble College\, Banbury Road\, Oxford OX2 6NN
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/168d7f7f-58c2-4842-a838-d051197f9944/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:Oxford Centre for Global History Inaugural Anthony Gwilli
 am Annual Lecture: Why Europe? Y. Pestis. The Black Death and the rise of 
 Europe - Professor James Belich (Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonweal
 th History\, University of Oxford)
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