ABSTRACT
Baron de La Brede et de Montesquieu’s masterpiece gives special attention to the relationship between the four major continents of the world – Europe, Asia, Africa and America – as they were known before 1748, the year of publication. Montesquieu was at pains to show why, among all these continents, Europe had achieved supremacy. Montesquieu was the first major writer to attempt to apply the principles of modernisation to the world as it was, or rather as it appeared to be in the first half of the eighteenth century. A comparatively minor influence on the Revolution, Montesquieu was to enjoy a much more central presence at the time of deliberations leading to the constitution. Meanwhile, in a similar manner, the supporters of the new constitution were also drawing on the writings of Montesquieu. Some of the central arguments in Montesquieu’s masterpiece were mentioned scarcely, for example climate, seen in that work as one of the fundamental formative influences.
