I've been trying to read up on this field since i want to write my MA on the subject. I've realised that there is a plethora of explanations that all, more or less, contradict each other. Recently i've been reading the Political Marxist Ellen Meiksins Wood who essentially claims that most explanations (world systems theory, trade, demography etc) effectively needs to presuppose Capitalism in order to explain it and as such they fail as explanatory models altogether.
Is there a currently dominant view of 'how' and 'why'? I'm not sure if Ellen Meiksins Wood is a fringe Historian in this regard.
Check out Ferdinand Braudel's three-volume series (available on Amazon in English) on Civilization and Capitalism. The whole series is great and very readable. The books can be purchased as a three-part series now for a very reasonable price. But each of the books can also be purchased and read separately. Book 2, "The Wheels of Commerce," deals specifically with the rise of capitalism in Europe. Braudel was a French historian and leader of the Annales School.