The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II

About the Book

This reissue of Fernand Braudel's great work brings the original back in print and looks at the Mediterranean world in the second half of the sixteenth century.

The focus of Fernand Braudel's work is the Mediterranean world in the second half of the sixteenth century, but Braudel ranges back in history to the world of Odysseus and forward to our time, moving out from the Mediterranean area to the New World and other destinations of Mediterranean traders. Braudel's scope embraces the natural world and material life, economics, demography, politics, and diplomacy.

About the Author

Fernand Braudel (1902-1985) was a member of the editorial board of Annales and of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, and chief adminsitrator of the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. His three-volume work, Civilization and Capitalism, is available from California.

Reviews

"Braudel's Mediterranean is a tour de force, one of the classics of this century's historical writing."—Charles Tilly, author of As Sociology Meets History

Contents

Preface to the English Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition

Part One
THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

I. THE PENINSULAS: MOUNTAINS, PLATEAUX, AND PLAINS
I. Mountains Come First
2. Plateaux, Hills, and Foothills
3. The Plains
4. Transhumance and Nomadism

II. THE HEART OF THE MEDITERRANEAN: SEAS AND COASTS
I. The Plains of the Sea
2. Mainland Coastlines
3. The Islands

III. BOUNDARIES: THE GREATER MEDITERRANEAN
A Mediterranean of historical dimensions
I. The Sahara, the Second Face of the Mediterranean
2. Europe and the Mediterranean
3. The Atlantic Ocean

IV, THE MEDITERRANEAN AS A PHYSICAL UNIT: CLIMATE AND HISTORY
I. The Unity of the Climate
2. The Seasons
3. Has the Climate Changed Since the Sixteenth Century?

V. THE MEDITERRANEAN AS A HUMAN UNIT: COMMUNICATIONS AND CITIES
I. Land Routes and Sea Routes
2. Shipping: Tonnages and Changing Circumstances
3. Urban Functions
4. Towns, Witnesses to the Century

Part Two
COLLECTIVE DESTINIES AND GENERAL TRENDS
I. ECONOMIES: THE MEASURE OF THE CENTURY
I. Distance, the First Enemy
2. How Many People?
3. Is It Possible to Construct a Model of the Mediterranean Economy?

II. ECONOMIES: PRECIOUS METALS, MONEY, AND PRICES
I. The Mediterranean and the Gold of the Sudan
2. American Silver
3. The Rise in Prices

III. ECONOMIES: TRADE AND TRANSPORT
1. The Pepper Trade
2. Equilibrium and Crisis in the Mediterranean Grain Trade
3. Trade and Transport: The Sailing Ships of the Atlantic
I. Before 1550: the first arrivals
II. From 1550 to 1573: the Mediterranean left to Mediterranean ships

Abbreviations