James m. blaut was an historian and geographer. His intellectual contribution was centered on what he considered to be the Eurocentrism of much existing thought, and which has come to be accepted as the best available explanation of the past. This Eurocentrism was initially expounded by Max Weber and has been restated by subsequent historians of repute, including modern exponents such as Jared Diamond and David Landes. Blaut challenged the exceptionalist view of European expansion and the so-called European Miracle, which ascribed the massive expansion of European interests and power to superior ideology, technology, and cultural expression.

In The Colonizer's Model of the World, Blaut argued that the transformation of the global economy between 1492–1688 could be explained by the comparative proximity of European states to ...