The World in the 1780s Summary and Analysis

Hobsbawm begins his analysis with an overview of the social and economic state of the world at the beginning of his chosen period of focus. The world is both "smaller" and "larger" than at present, he writes. It is smaller in that the estimated population is much smaller and even the average physical size of the people is smaller. The circles within which people move are small, with most people never leaving the area where they are born. Population areas along seacoasts are better connected with one another than large cities are with the smaller tons around them. The world is larger in that large areas of it are still unexplored.

The population is largely rural, Hobsbawm explains, with most agrarian workers of the world being "unfree," as the slaves of the Americas...