Contents
1. Countering the Eurocentric myth of the West:
discovering the Oriental West
Part I. The East as an Early Developer
2. Islamic and African pioneers:
building the global economy in the Afro-Asian Age of Discovery, 500–1500
3. Chinese pioneers:
the first industrial miracle and the myth of Chinese isolationism, 1000–1800
4. The East remains dominant:
India, Japan and Southeast Asia, 1400–1800
Part II. The West was Last:
5. Inventing Christendom and the Eastern origins of European feudalism
6. The myth of the Italian pioneer
7. The myth of the Vasco de Gama epoch, 1498–1800
Part III. The West as a Late-Developer:
8. The myth of 1492 and the impossibility of America:
the Afro-Asian contribution to the catch-up of the West, 1492–1700
9. The Chinese origins of British industrialisation
10. Constructing European racist identity and the invention of the world, 1700–1850
11. War, racist imperialism and the Afro-Asian origins of British industrialisation
Part IV. Conclusion:
The Oriental West versus the Eurocentric Myth of the West:
12. The twin myths of the Western liberal state and the civilisational divide
between East and West, 1500–1900
13. The rise of the Oriental West.