like Venice, underwent major early institutional innovations.
As in Venice, Rome’s initial economic success was based
on inclusive institutions—at least by the standards of their
time. As in Venice, these institutions became decidedly
more extractive over time. With Rome, this was a
consequence of the change from the Republic (510 BC –49
BC ) to the Empire (49 BC – AD 476). Even though during the
Republican period Rome built an impressive empire, and
long-distance trade and transport flourished, much of the
Roman economy was based on extraction. The transition
from republic to empire increased extraction and ultimately
led to the kind of infighting, instability, and collapse that we
saw with the Maya city-states.
Second and more important, we will see that Western
Europe’s subsequent institutional development, though it
was not a direct inheritance of Rome, was a consequence
of critical junctures that were common across the region in
the wake of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
These critical junctures had little parallel in other parts of the
world, such as Africa, Asia, or the Americas, though we will
also show via the history of Ethiopia that when other places
did experience similar critical junctures, they sometimes
reacted in ways that were remarkably similar. Roman
decline led to feudalism, which, as a by-product, caused
slavery to wither away, brought into existence cities that
were outside the sphere of influence of monarchs and
aristocrats, and in the process created a set of institutions
where the political powers of rulers were weakened. It was
upon this feudal foundation that the Black Death would
create havoc and further strengthen independent cities and
peasants at the expense of monarchs, aristocrats, and
large landowners. And it was on this canvas that the
opportunities created by the Atlantic trade would play out.
Many parts of the world did not undergo these changes,
and in consequence drifted apart.
R OMAN V IRTUES …
Roman plebeian tribune Tiberius Gracchus was clubbed to
death in 133 BC by Roman senators and his body was
thrown unceremoniously into the Tiber. His murderers were
aristocrats like Tiberius himself, and the assassination was