Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels first presented the theory of historical materialism in 1848. The theory divided human history into consecutive stages of development, defined by different modes of production. The weakness of this theory was its eurocentric perspective, since it only explained the historical development of Western Europe, on which the theory was based. It is evident from Marx's later work that he was leaning towards a less eurocentric understanding of the human past, but Marx never again undertook a more systematic study of history to complement his original theory of historical materialism. Marx's intellectual successors either adopted his earlier views or abandoned historical materialism and the global theory of historical development altogether. In the 1970's, franco-egyptian economist and theoretician Samir Amin decided to update Marx's work with newer findings. Amin's key innovation was the concept of a tributary mode of production, which Amin considered to be the universal mode of production in pre-capitalist societies. Amin later presented his theory in his book Eurocentrism, where he also theorized the development of philosophy, religion and ideology that accompanied the different stages of material development.
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