ABSTRACT
One of the most common themes in world history is the rise of one locality, northwestern Europe, to a position of global power. The story usually begins with an account of the revolutionary ocean voyages that Iberian royalty sponsored—across the Atlantic, around Africa, and ultimately around the world. These voyages are portrayed as unprecedented historical departures, and many of the developments associated with them are seen as the events that ultimately ushered in the modern world. And because the voyages were made by western Europeans, historians have been inclined to seek the causes for the voyages and the transition to modernity within the bounds of western Europe. So far, the explanations thus produced include everything from the uniqueness of its soil and seeds to the anxieties of its soul.
