Understanding Commercial societies (the series)

The societies that invented material progress for the masses: humanity's greatest accomplishment.

Commercial societies powered mass material progress centuries before factories. This series explains what they were, where they arose, and why they mattered.

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As of today, I have been writing on Substack for about 2.5 years. During that time, I have written just almost 600 articles on many topics. In contrast to the vast majority of Substack columns, almost all my articles are tied together by a common theme: human material progress:

• what it is,

• how it has transformed our lives (largely for the better)

• when and where it started

• what caused it,

• how progress spread throughout the world,

• how we can keep it going

This article displays a list of all my articles on Commercial societies. I believe that Commercial societies are a key concept that is missing from the field of Progress Studies.

While many researchers believe that sustained material progress started with the Industrial Revolution, I believe that material progress for the masses started centuries earlier in Commercial societies. Acknowledging this enables us to understand the true causes of long-term economic growth.

Famous examples of Commercial societies include the:

• Medieval city/states of Northern Italy (Venice, Florence, Genoa, Milan, and many more)

• Late Medieval city/states of Flanders (Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and Antwerp in modern-day Belgium)

• The Dutch Republic (1579-1795)

• Pre-industrial England, particularly in the southeast (roughly 1500-1800)

• Likely also many of the city/states of Ancient Greece.

Enjoy reading!

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Table of Contents for the “Commercial societies” series:

1. Why you need to know about Society Types.

2. Why We Should Care About Pre-Industrial Economic Growth

3. Why Commercial societies are the most important type of society that you have never heard of

4. Why Europe Got Rich First

5. How and why Commercial Societies created material progress

6. How humans learned to transform food surplus into Progress

7. How the Scottish Enlightenment Invented the Concept of the “Commercial Society”

8. Commercial Societies Were Not Just About Trade: How Industry Preceded the Industrial Revolution

9. How Commercial societies evolved:

   1. Medieval European cities

   2. The geographical preconditions of Commercial societies

   3. The Holy Roman Empire was an incubator of Progress

   4. Farming in Commercial societies (1500-1800)

   5. How agriculture made Commercial societies flourish

10. Case studies on specific Commercial societies:

    1. Medieval city/states of Northern Italy (the series)

    2. Medieval Flanders

    3. The Dutch Republic

    4. England and later Britain (the series)

    5. How the USA copied the Five Keys to Progress

    6. Were the Ancient Greek city/states Commercial societies?

    7. The Empire Strikes Back! How predatory Agrarian regimes crushed fledgling Commercial societies

11. Why the Industrial Revolution happened in Britain

12. The impact of Commercial societies on Europe’s great intellectual movements

13. more on this topic

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If you enjoyed reading this series of articles, you might also be interested in reading my “From Poverty to Progress” book series: