Empires To Nations

Savelle, Max. Empires to Nations: Expansion in America, 1713-1824. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974. xxi + 335.

"By the end of the seventeenth century the expansion of European civilization had reached most of the major land masses of the world Ð'... European man's geographic knowledge of the earth was still far from complete" (p. 3). Those statements are the opening sentences of Max Savelle's book Empires to Nations: Expansion in America, 1713-1824. Those sentences point out exactly what Savelle tries to explain and prove throughout his entire book. Along with that main idea, other important topics are discussed, consisting of; the completion of the European occupation of the American continents, the political structures of Euroamerican empires, international aspects of the American economy and how it relates to the Euroamerican empires in general, and the American societies. Also discussed are inter-nation relations of rival American empires, religion in America in the eighteenth century, America in the enlightenment, the independence of the United States, the ferment of freedom and the independence of Latin America. In short, Savelle packed this book full of information.

The book is a straightforward, uncomplicated and succinct introduction to this very interesting time in world history. This book is the fifth book in a series of ten books, discussing information from the time of Portuguese exploration around 1600 to the twentieth century, the end of Europe's empires and their legacy. There are eleven authors, and Savelle is one of these. This book specifically talks about the expansion in America between 1713 and 1824. As the book's main topics state, this book is merely a description of events that occurred throughout the time of colonial expansion and early American history. The book was broken down into 11 chapters, which included many illustrations and maps. The chapters are arranged in a topical manner for the most part. In the early chapters of the book, the chapters are arranged by the descriptions of each of the European mother states and their role in their American colonies. The last part of the chapter is a conclusion, which ties together the affects of the mother states on each other. For example, how France's economy in Francoamerica affected the economy in Hispanoamerica.

As stated above, Savelle's plan for this book was to explain and describe the details of the European colonies in America during the Age of Expansion. His main idea is the fact that, though knew of the most of the world at that time, they still did not know much about those new places. This mainly was in conjunction with the New World. Though the information in the books entirety seems to be convincing, there are not many arguments that can be found throughout the book. The author seems to just slap the material on the paper with very few examples to back up his case. One example that stood out clearly can be located on page 67.

Ð'...within the British empire a merchant of Boston who sold a shipment of fish in

Barbados might readily take in payment a bill of exchange Ð'- a sort of draft Ð'- drawn by his

Barbados correspondent upon a merchant-banker of London; similar arrangements

existed in all the colonial empires.

This