I don't mean to be pedantic or defend the theory I talked about, but imperialism and capitalisms existence is surely precluded by a number of factors, and the fact that Europe reached the stage of capitalism/imperialism at the time they did is reflective of history that predates that period (obviously, I know). It's that history that the theory attempts to decipher. It's the why of, why didn't China develop a capitalist system at that time?

Another poster mentioned Spain, which I think pokes a hole because it's not cold there and they still were some of the earliest mercantile expeditionaries to South America.

No, debt didn't originate in Europe (Varoufakis mentions the earliest debts on record are not European), but it was apparently on a wider scale in non-surplus countries because stockpiling a necessity like food in a place where food is scarce leads to more people entering debt to gain access to it.

'The problem with all these authors is that they are utterly unaware that Northern Europe was a backwater from the end of the Roman Empire to about 1750 AD' - What do you mean by this? What's the implications of Europe being in the muck for that time period? Again, not trying to combat, just trying to understand.