Asian Mediterranean

Mediterranean is a powerful concept, elaborated by Braudel in his seminal study on The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. It encompasses economic, social and cultural dimensions. In the fourteenth century, Genoa, Venice, Barcelona were global places, controlling world-wide economic flows. This supremacy derived from the structuring of a crucial maritime area, the Mediterranean. What seems to be most remarkable in Braudel's analysis of the Mediterranean maritime world is how borders dematerialized, how flows started to define space and how different stages or levels of development clashed against one another. During the 18th century, thanks to the overlapping of its trading networks (Arabic, Indian, Portuguese and Chinese) the South China sea was at the core of European and Asian economic exchanges. This paper deals with the following questions: Is Asian Mediterranean a conceptual tool applicable to Asia? More specifically, can the economic corridor of East Asia, hinged onto several interconnected maritime basins: The Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea be considered a valid illustration of the Braudelian concept, during the two periods under consideration: the end of the 16th century and the end of the 20th century? Is a network of independent cities the prominent actor of this maritime space?