Popular and prevalent: Asian trade goods in northern New Spain, 1590–1850

Much previous scholarship has assumed that Pacific trade goods were generally restricted to the urban centers of colonial Latin America and had little influence on the culture of interior provinces. Documentary and archeological records from remote areas of northern New Spain indicate otherwise and may serve as an example of the range of Asian trade goods elsewhere in colonial Latin America. This essay focuses upon Parral and New Mexico, showing that Asian goods-especially porcelain and textiles-reached some of the most remote areas of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Throughout the colonial era, the desire to establish and maintain a sophisticated lifestyle on the periphery seems to have been operative, with imported Asian goods as signifiers of status and prestige. Although fewer imported Asian goods may have been available in the remote northern regions than in urban areas, archeological and documentary evidence indicates their quality was equal to that of the metropoles, suggesting that daily life on the northern frontier was not as poor and isolated as previously assumed, but rather, actively participated in the international trade of the times.     

Historical mosque orientation in Turkey: Central-Western Anatolia Region, 1150–1590

The orientation of buildings in the ancient civilisations has been referred to the movements of several celestial bodies above the horizon on characteristics dates (two solstices and equinoxes). However, Muslims have used a sacred direction (qibla) towards Kaaba located in the courtyard in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to pray and to perform various ritual acts in their daily lives since the early days of Islam. Thus, the mosques had then to orientate towards the qibla direction, being indicated by a niche in the focal point of the qibla-wall wherever they were building on the Earth. This article focuses on the mosque orientation in Turkey before the seventeenth century with regard to the astronomical knowledge derived from Arabic sources before Islam, mathematical theory and spherical computation derived from Greek sources and traditions based on the early Islamic period. The mosque orientations are compared to the qibla directions that are used in sacred geography which was determined by the producers of folk astronomy and in the application of the geometric or trigonometric formulae in mathematical astronomy.     

Inter-port transshipment between Shanghai and Hankou in foreign trade: 1864–1930

Shanghai and Hankou are located at separate ends of the most prosperous watercourse of Yangtze River. The transshipment in foreign trade between the two ports shows the limitation of Hankou as an inland port. Though the port grew due to independent direct imports and exports, Hankou was never completely independent from Shanghai. In contrast, Shanghai is of great importance to the inland ports of Yangtze River which is different to its effect on the ports of coastal areas of Northern China. Also, the region along Yangtze River is very important to Shanghai as its hinterland. The trading and transshipment between Shanghai and Hankou is critical to the whole region of Yangtze River and the development of Chinese economy. Related topics worth studying are commerce, finance, population mobility and urbanization, etc.     

Building détente in Europe? East–West trade and the beginnings of Romania's nuclear programme, 1964–70

This article examines the connection between détente in Europe and East–West nuclear technology transfers through the lens of Romania's co-operation policy in the field of atomic energy in the 1960s. It argues that until 1967 the bourgeoning relations between Western Europe and Romania did not stem from a desire to overcome the artificial division of Europe, but rather from the pursuit of unilateral economic benefits. This situation worked to the advantage of the Romanians, who acquired an important nuclear research reactor from the British by playing West European countries against one another. Afterwards, in order to boost their competitiveness, the West Europeans started pooling their nuclear industries together, although traditional rivalries such as the Anglo-French competition endured. Despite these efforts to achieve closer integration, the West Europeans failed to sell a nuclear power plant to Romania because of internal problems within their nuclear–industrial complexes, and because of Soviet meddling in the internal affairs of its satellites. This research adds to our understanding of Romania's détente policy during the 1960s, while also shedding light on the development of East–West relations in the field of atomic energy.     

Hawaiians in the fur trade of north‐west America, 1785–1820

Abstract

The 1941 decision to remove the New Guinea administration headquarters from Rabaul because of volcanic dangers was again taken up by the post‐war administration under J. K. Murray in 1946. However, decision‐making and planning negotiations between the Territory and Canberra were so protracted by public service inefficiency, contradictory expert and official opinions and the difficulty of finding a suitable port to replace Simpson Harbour that very little had been accomplished by 1951 when Paul Hasluck was appointed Minister for Territories. Hasluck accepted the recommendation of newly appointed Assistant Administrator D. Cleland that the wharf be rebuilt at Simpson Harbour and the township be moved to Nonga‐Tavui. In doing so he rejected the long‐held position of Murray, approved by previous ministers, that a new town and port be constructed at Kokopo. But Cabinet, whose consent was needed for extra‐budgetary costs in the Territory, was motivated by a different agenda and years of planning and negotiations came to nothing when it was decided that Rabaul and its wharf should be rebuilt on their original sites.     

Green cities? Urbanization,trade, and the environment

Is urbanization good for the environment? This paper establishes a simple core–periphery model with monocentric cities, which comprises key forces that shape the structure and interrelation of cities to study the impact of the urban evolution on the environment. We focus on global warming and the potential of unfettered market forces to economize on emissions. The model parameters are chosen to match the dichotomy between average “large” and “small” cities in the urban geography of the United States, and the sectoral greenhouse gas emissions recorded for the United States. Based on numerical analyzes we find that a forced switch to a system with equally sized cities reduces total emissions. Second, any city driver which pronounces the asymmetry between the core and the periphery drives up emissions in the total city system, too, and the endogenous adjustment of the urban system accounts for the bulk of the change in emissions. Third, none of the city drivers gives rise to an urban environmental Kuznets curve according to our numerical simulations. Finally, the welfare‐maximizing allocation tends to involve dispersion of cities and the more so the higher is the marginal damage from pollution.     

Australia and the European Union: conflict,competition or engagement in agricultural and agri-food trade?

Many scholars have mounted convincing cases that the engagement of Australia and the European Union (EU) has been characterised by skirmishes regarding the Common Agricultural Policy and its distortion of world markets, and lack of Australian access to EU markets. This article illustrates that agricultural and agri-food trade constitutes a relatively small portion of Australia–EU trade flows; that Australia exports more goods to the EU than in the past; and that, in some agri-food sectors, it exports more goods to the EU than the EU does to Australia. Further, it argues that conflict and competition regarding the Common Agricultural Policy need to be understood in the broader context of world trade and in the context of a new and deeper engagement between the two interlocutors.     

Suburban growth and land actors along by‐pass roads in Norway

It has been argued that by‐pass roads lead to suburban growth and that the construction of such roads will prompt the planning of industrial and other commercial developments, on the part of the local municipal government. This case study of five by‐pass roads shows that a significant, but limited suburban growth takes place along these roads. Actors who promote development have a greater effect on the planning process than those who resist land development. One exception is the regional authorities who can object to a local plan. The study also shows that most of the local development plans are submitted for approval by the local authorities themselves, either independently or jointly with private developers.