ABSTRACT
The traditional analysis of world systems often assumes a static and territorially fixed depiction of the “core” versus “periphery”. It assumes that “core” and periphery throughout the longue durée of historical capitalism had the same kind of processes, activities and/or spaces. In this chapter, a dataset of shifting centers of wealth accumulation is analyzed. It is argued that throughout the longue durée there has been a constant process of spatial differentiation, which was a manifestation of the uneven ability of relevant factors, such as workers, capitalists and rulers, to protect their control of resources.
