The point Salvatore seems to be misisng is that IF there is any sense
to the existence of a w s [long] before 1500 or 1800, then that has
implications for what happened AFTER that date too.
And one imnplication is that it is NOT "of course true" that we can trace
back as per Wallerstein. That is we can, but we risk tracing in the wrong
directioin, just backward within Europe. What happened in Europe in 1500,
1800 or whenever can only be accounted for in the WORLD economic terms
of its relations primarily with Asia, within the structure/operation of a
single world economy!
agf