Abstract In recent decades, economic historians have revisited the Industrial Revolution in a global context. Their interpretations rely mostly on comparative methods. This article shows instead that there is a profound and significant relationship between industrialization and global exchange, and that consumption of cotton textiles was central to such a relationship. Yet, historians should not consider global trade in the context of separate world regions. The history of cotton textiles reveals the extent to which the worldwide integration of different spaces of commerce and consumption, most especially those of the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, brought advantages to European traders and manufacturers. Taking this view, the article argues that the demand and consumption of textiles were important in determining the scale as well as the shape and specialisms of European textile production. This was not only the demand generated by European consumers — as supported by much of the European ‘consumer revolution’ literature — but also the demand of a wider group of users in the Atlantic region. The reshaping of trade and consumption in turn had important consequences for the production of cotton textiles both in India and in Europe.

中文翻译：

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全球背景下的棉纺织品与工业革命

摘要 近几十年来，经济史学家在全球范围内重新审视了工业革命。他们的解释主要依赖于比较方法。相反，本文表明工业化与全球交换之间存在着深刻而重要的关系，而棉纺织品的消费是这种关系的核心。然而，历史学家不应该在不同的世界区域的背景下考虑全球贸易。棉纺织品的历史揭示了世界范围内不同商业和消费空间的整合，尤其是大西洋和印度洋地区的整合，在多大程度上为欧洲贸易商和制造商带来了优势。采取这种观点，文章认为，纺织品的需求和消费对于决定欧洲纺织品生产的规模、形状和专业性非常重要。这不仅是欧洲消费者产生的需求——正如许多欧洲“消费者革命”文献所支持的那样——也是大西洋地区更广泛用户群体的需求。贸易和消费的重塑反过来又对印度和欧洲的棉纺织品生产产生了重要影响。