ABSTRACT
N o account of the economic development of Europe iscomplete which omits a reference to the influenceexerted upon it by contact with other continents. At almost every stage in European history this influence has been felt, but its effects have been more pronounced at some periods than at others. Such a decisive period was the century and a half from 1600 to 1750, when the opening up of new markets in Asia and America prepared the way for the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The last fifty years form another period of the same kind, during which the industrialized nations in their efforts to find fresh outlets for trade have extended their political sway over the undeveloped portions of the earth and built up large colonial empires. The full effects of this latest interaction between Europe and the rest of the world have still to make themselves manifest.
