As we have seen in the previous chapter, Crutzen and Stoermer concede that to assign a specific date to the onset of the Anthropocene Era seems ‘somewhat arbitrary’ since it could involve the entire Holocene. However, they suggest that the new era began in the latter part of the eighteenth century, because of the beginning of ‘greenhouse gases’ and ‘biotic assemblages’ at the same time as James Watt's patent for a steam engine in 1784. James Lovelock suggests the year 1712, ‘when Newcomen created an efficient machine that converted the sunlight locked in coal directly into work’. Here, we choose the year 1763, for the following reasons.

Let us briefly recall the argument of our Introduction, that evidence from the study of history and other humanities as well as from the social and natural sciences must be examined in any adequate analysis of the Anthropocene Era, and it is the history on which we will concentrate. In 1763, a significant global conflict came to an end. It was marked by a victory of Great Britain over France, whose power was reduced in Europe and broken in Canada and India. The way was clear for Great Britain to become the workshop of the world via the Industrial Revolution. Meanwhile, the Columbian Exchange was gathering pace in the Atlantic, and beyond. For example, K. N. Chaudhuri observes: ‘The final stage in the dynamic movements in the Indian Ocean was reached in the second half of the eighteenth century when British military and naval power fused with European technological revolution to redraw the civilisational map of the Indian Ocean.’ K. W. Pomeranz argues that, as late as 1750, there was little difference between the most economically advanced areas of Europe and China. What he calls ‘The Great Divergence’ began thereafter. A technological innovation of cardinal relevance was the improvement by John Harrison of his marine chronometer which reached a new stage by 1762, enabling seamen to pinpoint their longitudinal position with much more accuracy than before, and thus to sail the seas with more confidence.