Talk by Dr. Giorgio Riello, “The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism: European Factories in the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800”

Join us for a talk by Professor Giorgio Riello, Professor of Early Modern Global History at the European University Institute. As traditionally defined, “factories” were commercial outposts established by the Carreira de índia and the European chartered companies in Africa and Asia. In the period 1500 to 1800, around 200 such factories were constructed across the Indian Ocean and China Sea. This lecture considers there function as units for commodity storage, accounting, procurement, retailing, exporting, information gathering, and military defense. It contextualizes the role that factories played in histories of early modern capitalism.