The Lower Danube and the Rio de la Plata Region in the Modern Age: Contrasted Perspectives on their Economic and Political Evolution

Stefan Zeletin's study on the beginning of capitalism and the emergence of the Romanian bourgeoisie generated much controversy at the time of publication. Among Zeletin's concerns was to prove that Romanian economic and political evolution was the result of becoming enmeshed at the beginning of the nineteenth century in global trade, whose symbol and engine was the British Empire. Zeletin's opinions can be easily understood by comparing the Romanian situation with that of South America in the La Plata River region (Argentine, Uruguay). Both regions had a similar status in the world economy in the early and mid-nineteenth century, neutral economic zones supplying agricultural products to the great powers and benefiting from their rivalries.