Global Commerce World History Notes

In the notes, be sure to define and explain the significance of the following key terms: trading post empire – the empire the Portuguese created in the Indian Ocean by obtaining bases through attacking small and weak states, no naval force in Asia was able to match the Portuguese guns or maneuverability * The Portuguese wanted control over commerce in the Indian Ocean and did so with force * Only able to control half the spice trade, could not sell their goods because they were not desired by Asian markets -> resorted to selling service of shipping goods African diaspora – The transatlantic spread of African people * Introduced elements of African culture such as religious ideas, musical and artistic traditions, and cuisine Answer the following chapter questions:

1. What drove European involvement in the world of Asian commerce (think back as well to your Napoleon’s Button’s readings)?

* Desire for tropical spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper – because they were used as condiments and preservatives and sometimes regarded as aphrodisiacs * Desire for products such as Chinese silk, Indian cotton, rhubarb for medicine, emeralds, rubies, sapphires * The pop. of Europe’s monarchs was recovering after the Black Death, learning how to tax more effectively, and learning how to build stronger military forces with gunpowder weapons * As cities grew, they became centers of international commerce, leading to a more capitalist economy based on market exchange, private ownership, and accumulation of capital * Problems with goods coming for East through the Middle East * Egypt was the primary point of transfer of goods from East into the Mediterranean, Venetians resented the Muslim monopoly of Indian Ocean trade * Europeans disliked relying on Venice

* Europeans required to pay gold and silver, which were the only materials wanted by the East
* No Asian navy was able to match that of the Portuguese
* They lacked the arms and onboard cannons
* Europeans’ military advantage enabled the Portuguese to establish fortified bases at several key locations in the Indian Ocean world

2. Compare/contrast Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British initiatives in Asia Portuguese| Spanish| Dutch| British|
Wanted control over the spice trade| Outright colonial rule of the islands, not a trading empire| Wanted control over the shipping and production of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace| Focused on Indian textiles| Used superior naval technology| Small-scale military operations, gunpowder weapons, local alliances, gifts to chiefs, and the pageantry of Catholic ritual| Highly urbanized and commercialized society -> militarily and economically stronger than Portuguese| Were no match for the Mughal Empire, secured trading bases with payments and bribes| Conquered small, wealthy states – Mombasa, Hormuz, Malacca, Macao| Established themselves on Philippine Islands, a small and militarily weak society| Focused on the islands of Indonesia| Established three major trading settlements in India| Conquered with cruelty| Bloodless takeover| Seized control of a number of small spice-producing islands with much bloodshed| | Portuguese king titled himself “Lord of the Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce”

| Named Philippine Islands after King Phillip II, discovered by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor sailing for the Spanish crown| British and Dutch East India Companies received charters from governments granting them monopolies, power to make war, and govern conquered peoples| British and Dutch East India Companies received charters from governments granting them monopolies, power to make war, and govern conquered peoples| Required merchant vessels to purchase a cartaz, pass, and pay 6-10% of their profit as duties| Pop. forced to relocate to more concentrated Christian communitiesTribute, taxes, and unpaid labor became common| Forced people to sell only to the Dutch and destroyed crops of those who didn’t|

Only controlled half the spice trade, never fully established monopoly| Large estates owned by Spanish settlers, | Were able to monopolize the trade in nutmeg, mace, and cloves and able to sell those in Europe and India for 14-17 times the price, for a time| | Resistance from locals| Islam gaining influence for over 300 years, resisted Christianity, Chinese economic prominence and resistance to conversion -> Spanish hostility & massacres| | | Portuguese were outnumbered by Asians -> ethnicity mix| Manila – capital of colonial Philippines, became a flourishing and culturally diverse city with more than 40,000 inhabitants, attracted 20,000 Chinese and 3,000 Japanese | | | Many Portuguese learned local language and culture while sometimes converting to Islam| Major missionary effort -> encounter between Christianity and Islam| | | First European country to get involved directly in Asian markets| Second European state to establish themselves in the Indian Ocean| One of the later Europeans to enter Asia| One of the later Europeans to enter Asia|

3. To what extent did the British and Dutch trading companies change the societies they encountered in Asia? * Dutch East India Company
* Killed, or enslaved the entire pop. of the Banda Islands, 15000, and replaced them with Dutch planters * Shattered the local economy of the Spice Islands, and the people were impoverished * With much bloodshed, forced locals to only sell crops to them * Europeans presented no real military threat to major Asian powers, political control was limited to the Philippines and some Spice Islands * Europeans land in Japan in the mid-sixteenth century

* Europeans welcomed by Japanese for their military tech., shipbuilding skills, geographic knowledge, commercial opportunities, and religious ideas * 300,000 Christian converts led by a Japanese church

* When Japan became unified by the Tokugawa clan, the shogun, supreme military leader, viewed Europeans as a threat to the unity * Expelled Christianity by torture and execution
* Prevented Japanese from traveling abroad, banned most Europeans from trade except Dutch, who looked less interested in Christianity
* Continuities:
* Arab, Chinese, Javanese, Malay, and other traders benefited from the upsurge in seaborne commerce * Chinese merchants continued to carry most of spice trade from Southeast Asia to China * Overland trade remained mostly in Asian hands

* Many Indian merchants and moneylenders lived in Central Asia, Persia, and Russia which connected this region to India * All of the above
operated successfully through the European militarization of the Indian Ocean 4. What was the world historical importance of the silver trade? * Spanish America produced 85% of world’s silver

* This made Spain’s only Asian colony, the Philippines an important link for global commerce * Spain’s shipment from the Americas to Manila, capital of the Philippines, was the first direct and sustained link between Americas and Asia -> initiated web of Pacific commerce * silver drain: China had growing demand for silver,

* In 1570, China made its pop. pay taxes in silver -> Foreigners could purchase Chinese porcelain and silk with silver now * Bulk of world’s silver ended up in China
* Chinese, Portuguese, and Dutch traders flocked to Manila to trade for silver, Europeans carried Japanese silver to China * Silver shipped to Spain was generally used to pay for foreign goods including African slaves and spices in Southeast Asia * The Spanish piece of eight silver coin was used all around the world * Importance of silver in history:

* Gave rise to the city of Potosi in Bolivia which housed largest silver mine in the world -> silver attracted many residents, became largest city in the Americas with pop. of 160,000 * Large social range, European elite lived in luxury while Native American miners worked in horrendous conditions * Allowed Spain to pursue military and political ambitions in Europe and the Americas far away from the homeland * Generated inflation rather than economic growth because Spain had an economy with monopolies and regulations, an aristocratic class that preferred enterprise, and an insistence on religious uniformity * Price of silver dropped in seventeenth century -> Spain’s loss in position as the dominant Western European power * Tokugawa shoguns used silver profits to defeat rival feudal lords and unify the country * Contrast to Spanish use of silver: shoguns allied with the merchant class to develop a market based economy and a heavy investment in agricultural and industrial enterprises ex. renewing forests and the (practice of having less children)? Why did people do this? -> led to flourishing, highly commercialized economy, foundations for Japanese industrial revolution * Deepened the commercialization of China’s economy

* People sold more of their labor and products in order to get the silver needed to pay taxes * Became more regionally specialized, Southern China lost about half of forest cover as more land was devoted to growing cash crops, contrasts Japanese preservation practices * Asian centrality in world economy

* Large pop. and demand for silver fueled global commerce by increasing the quantity of goods exchanged and the geographic range of world trade * Europeans were middlemen in economy, funneled silver to Asia

5. Describe the impact of the fur trade on North American native societies. What was similar and different to the Siberian fur trade? * Furs provided warmth and conveyed status in colder regions of the world, but furs were integrated into the world economy along with North America and Siberia * Cooling temps and harsh winters, European pop. growth, and agricultural expansion diminished the supply of fur animals -> price of furs quadrupled in some places -> strong economic incentives for Europeans to be involved in the fur trade * French -> St. Lawrence valley, British -> Hudson Bay region, Dutch -> Hudson River or New York * Native Americans did the commercial trapping and hunting while Europeans bought it from them at fortified trade posts * Furs introduced to Europe enhanced the standard of living of those in cold climates * Effects on Native Americans and America:

* Near extinction of beaver due to demand for beaver hats along with other animals * Hunters took 500,000 deer a year, diminishing the pop. * Benefited Native Americans in the beginning, received copper pots, metal axes, knives, cloth, firearms, and alcohol in exchange for pellets * Strengthened Hurons relationship with neighboring peoples, enhanced power of Huron chiefs because they could distribute the goods among followers * Role in the fur trade protected the Indians from extermination, enslavement, displacement, etc., however disease devastated them * The fur trade generated competition among the Native American tribes which led to many small wars in which Native Americans were forced to pick a European ally while firearms made warfare more deadly than before * Native Americans became dependent on European goods ex. Cooking pots replacing stone, gunpowder weapons replacing bows and arrows -> Many traditional crafts were not which meant they could not manufacture their own goods * The introduction of alcohol led to binge drinking, violence, promiscuity, and addiction among young men * Differences between North American and Siberian fur trades * The Siberian fur trade provided fur for Western Europeans and Ottomans while the North American fur trade provided fur for Eastern Europeans * Europeans paid for Russian furs with American gold and silver * Incentive for Russia’s expansion

* No competition existed in the expansion of the Russian state * Russian authorities imposed taxes to be paid in furs * Had many private merchants, trappers, and hunters who competed with native Siberians * Similarities between North American and Siberian fur trades * Both grew very wealthy from the fur trade

* Both inhabitants were devastated by diseases
* Native animals were seriously depleted
6. What was distinctive about the Atlantic slave trade? What did it share with other patterns of slave owning and slave trading? * Distinctive factors of the Atlantic slave trade
* Before, southern Russia was the major source of slaves and operated within the Islamic world, but all slaves in the Atlantic slave trade are from Africa * Slaves were not assimilated into their owners’ households, lineages, or communities * Favored male slaves, did not allow slaves to acquire prominent military or political status * The immense size of the traffic of slaves and the centrality in the economy of America * Based on plantation agriculture and dehumanized slaves as property * Slave status was inherited through generations with little hope of freedom * Racial discrimination

* Shared patterns of slave owning and slave trading
* African societies practiced sold slaves into international commercial networks
* Owning and exchange of human beings
* Closely linked to warfare and capture

7. What explains the rise of the Atlantic slave trade?
* Sugar in America required large-scale intensive labor
* Required factory-like discipline among workers and a mass market of consumers * Difficulty, danger of work, the limitations of serf labor, and absence of wage workers all lead to slavery as the source of labor for sugar plantations * The supply of Slavic slaves, from the Black Sea region, was cut off when the Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople * Portuguese mariners found an alternative source of slavery in Africa when looking for gold * Process of elimination: Slavic peoples cut off, Native Americas dying from diseases, most Europeans were Christians and exempt from slavery, indentured servants were expensive and temporary * African slaves were skilled farmers, had immunity to both tropical and European diseases, were not Christian, close at hand, and available in substantial numbers * Racism – viewed Africans as not even human or an inferior race and distinguished them by their color 8. What roles did Europeans and Africans play in the unfolding of the Atlantic slave trade? * European demand for slaves to be worked on plantations

* Europeans waited on the coast to purchase slaves from African merchants and political elites because they lacked the immunities to African diseases and could not successfully raid African villages * Europeans took advantages of rivalries between African tribes to get slaves and the lowest price and funneled gunpowder weapons into Africa to increase warfare * Africans captured and sold each other in return for European and Indian textile, cowrie shells, European metal goods, firearms, tobacco and alcohol * Many small-scale societies were disrupted by raids from more powerful neighbors * Europeans started to transport African goods including slaves from one port to another * Slave-trade drew mainly from West Africa, people who lacked protection in an established community * Majority of slaves ended up in Brazil or the Caribbean which required intense labor

9. In what different ways did the Atlantic slave trade transform African societies? * Africa permanently became part of an interacting Atlantic world * West African economies increasingly connected to an European-centered world economy * Slowed Africa’s growth rate, reducing the pop. by 12% of the world’s pop. * Generated economic stagnation and political disruption in Africa, insecurity in societies that had little centralized authority * Maize and cassava introduced from America added a new source of calories to the African diet * Large states diminished as outlying regions could establish their independence with trading opportunities and firearms * Continuities:

* European imports did not displace traditional artisan manufacturing * No technological breakthroughs in architecture or industry increased wealth