ABSTRACT
In short, the new European maritime empires seem, in a global context, less impressive than is usually supposed. In the early modern period, land empires continued to be the dominant type of trend. But the economic effects of new kinds of empire building must be taken into account. It is by no means certain that Europe's adverse balance of trade with China was paid for by American silver or that American gold ended up in India. But it was paid for: indeed, Europeans and their American colonies proved capable of importing more than ever from China while also increasing their own capacity for production. Finally, in its broadest global context, European expansion sowed seeds of another transcendentally important change: the great ecological revolution of early modern times, which transformed so many physical environments and reversed the direction of eons of evolution.
