Year 1688
The so-called 'Glorious Revolution' in England in 1688 was a pivotal event in the country's history. It also began a train of events leading to almost twenty years of war in Europe and the emergence of Britain as a major power. This is why elsewhere I cover the life of Thomas Pitt who, living from 1653 to 1726, straddled this period of rapid social and economic change in Europe and the world.
Wills, 1688: a global history
To take an overview of the deepening connections between parts of the world, I will often go back to a short but highly interesting book, John Wills' global history of the year 1688. He speculates that: In 1688 a full sense of the variety of the world's places and peoples, of their separations and their connections, was confined to a few
, referring to the small number of travellers as well as the literate …