How Did The Old World Trade

reciprocity, this caused trade between two different countries instead of just one. This brought in more

Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during

Economic changes occurred partly due to the newly formed nation-states of Spain, Portugal, France, and England. Trade at that time was limited and expensive, so the Europeans began looking for new trade routes to Asia. What they found was an altogether new place that opened up many new opportunities for food sources, money, and slave labor. A motivator for exploration was “defined primarily in terms of silver and gold and secondarily in terms of raw materials.” Another factor to consider was the population explosion that came about after the Black Plague wiped out around 30 million Europeans producing “economic disruption.” Spain was seeking gold to finance further expeditions abroad and their own war with the Muslims on the home front. Britain was seeking new trade markets for their wool with the collapse of their wool market at home. Another mitigating economic factor was the rising prices created by the flood of American silver into the European market. This caused rates to double on many goods, which benefited the farmers and the merchants, but the majority of people suffered because their wages did not rise proportionately. This increased the number of people living on the fringes of society and “thus built up pressure to immigrate to the Americas.”

trade between Africa, Europe, and North America. By trading rum, money and goods were brought

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

In the 1400’s Europe had very little land for agriculture and settlement. The Europeans desired riches such as gold, luxury food items, land, and timber. None of these products could be produced in Europe so they had to find these resources elsewhere. This led to a lot of importing and trading with

In 1492, spice trade led to Europe's exploration and discovery of the Americas, their advanced weaponry allowed for the colonization of the Americas and also slave trade in Africa. Europe was on the verge of an economic explosion before this time and the Columbian Exchange and Triangular Exchange between Europe, Africa, and the Americas was the push they needed for their economy to boom. The Europeans began to grow wealthy at the expense of Africa and the Americas. The growing economy started to create a middle class and the Europeans began to see themselves as superior, socially and economically, especially

1. Long-distance commerce acted as a motor of change in pre-modern world history by altering consumption and daily life. Essential food and useful tools such as salt were traded from the Sahara desert all the way to West Africa and salt was used as a food preserver. Some incenses essential to religious ceremonies were traded across the world because there was a huge demand for them. Trade diminished economic self-sufficiency by creating a reliance on traded goods and encouraged people to specialize and trade a particular skill. Trade motivated the creation of a state due to the wealth accumulated from controlling and taxing trade. Trade posed the problem of if the government or private

Tobacco gained popularity very quickly in Europe despite being opposed by the church. Several other crops were also exported, such as “banannas, coconuts, coffee, and breadfruit”21. The export of crops completed what is called the Triangular Trade, a trade between the New World, Europe, and Africa which was central during this time. The New World traded crops to Europe.

The Global flow of silver from mid 16th century to early 18th century, while resulting in increase of wealth to the merchants, eventually lead to social inequality through economic status. It also resulted in the weakening of states that supplied or received silver in vast quantities due to the increase of monetized economies. The effects of the Global flow of silver is best understood in the context of the growth of mercantilist economies in which during the 15th and 18th century European nations competed against each other to boost national revenue. Particularly, European nations trading along the Indian Ocean region for Indian cloth and spices, which in turn resulted in the establishment of government funded joint-stock companies such as the East India Company and trading posts.

The frequency of plants, animals, and even diseases being transported between the Old and New Worlds meant that a network had been formed between the two that would surely last. In a similar way, “the migration of Africans caused by the Atlantic slave trade represented a new level and intensity of integration, for it was the continual and regular transportation of a mass ‘commodity’” (48). There were also other major long-distance commercial links being forged, and in fact, “the first truly global trading network resulted from the silver mined in the Spanish colonies in America” (49). One more major development around this time was the creation of the printing press, which “made it easier for [Europeans] to develop potentially unlimited spheres of communication”

There, many items and ideas were traded, good and bad, such as diseases, plants, livestock, and technology. European countries flourished from the exchange at the new world and even experienced a population boom. Many good were successful and became popular in Europe such as tobacco, corn, and potatoes. These foods changed many diets and cuisines across Europe and Asia. For example, capsicum peppers from the Americas transformed South and Southeastern Asian cuisine.

Europe's flourishing economic system was contributed to Capitalism, joint-stock companies, the favorable balance of trade, and mercantilism contributed and prompted the growth of towns and the social class of merchants. In the New World, the Columbian Exchange helped them gain power through its trade. The New World imported goods such as sugar and livestock and exported goods such as tobacco and tomatoes. Trade helped the New World gain a foothold in the Columbian Exchange. In Africa, the Columbian Exchange benefited them through the slave trade.

Throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the world witnessed a global expansion as well as a compaction of people, cultures, and ideas. The need for goods, as well as the process of mercantilism to inflate economies, was instrumental in the advancement of seafaring technologies, the need to spread religion, and the eventual globalization of the slave market. The four major regions in the world, which were the stepping stones of globalization, are Africa, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Americas, and finally East Asia.

This helps the reader establish how the world looked and worked as a whole so many years ago. The trading in the old world was the first communication between the different regions of the world. This was possible by the three factors Marks writes in his book, technological advantages, climatic and geographic constraints, and finally consumer tastes and social conventions. This view provides the reader with the need to know how and why these factors were so huge in the world at thee years. Marks knows how to make a reader want to know more about the subjects he writes about.