This chapter questions the mainstream view that has identified the main sources of modern world history as the Reformation, the expansion of Europe into America and Asia, the formation of trading companies, and scientific discoveries, thus leaving out the rest of the non-European world. Egypt between 1500 and 1800 was considered to be outside of history. This approach calls for a reconsideration of the dominant paradigm in such a way as to redress this Eurocentric bias. One possible channel that the book explores is to identify worldwide trends that touched not only Egypt but also India, South ... More

This chapter questions the mainstream view that has identified the main sources of modern world history as the Reformation, the expansion of Europe into America and Asia, the formation of trading companies, and scientific discoveries, thus leaving out the rest of the non-European world. Egypt between 1500 and 1800 was considered to be outside of history. This approach calls for a reconsideration of the dominant paradigm in such a way as to redress this Eurocentric bias. One possible channel that the book explores is to identify worldwide trends that touched not only Egypt but also India, Southeast Asia, and Europe, thus downplaying the centrality of Europe in the global picture. Another channel the book explores is in the direction of commercial exchanges and the exchanges of know-how and of technology. The book shows that in the 18th century these were far from being one-way exchanges from Europe to the rest of the world.