Among a certain species of “critical” historian, it is an article of faith that Europe’s remarkable economic ascent was built not on its institutions, not on liberty, not on commerce, but on the systematic looting of the rest of the world. In this telling—descended from the anti-imperialist rhetoric of the 1960s New Left—Europe’s “miracle” was a simple matter of taking what didn’t belong to it, whether gold and silver from the Americas, spices from the Indies, or raw materials from Africa and Asia. This narrative has the advantage of being emotionally satisfying to those looking to discredit...
















