Chapter 14 (first half)

Europeans and Asian Commerce

  • The voyage (1497-1499) of the Portuguese mariner Vasco da Gama in which Europeans sailed to India for the first time was no accident.
    • the outcome of a deliberate effort to explore a sea route to the East by slowing down the West African coast around the tip of South Africa to finally across the Indian Ocean in 1498.
  • Desire to look for tropical spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, pepper.
  • Chinese Silk and Indian Cotton.
Silver and Global Commerce

  • Silver trade gave birth to a genuinely global network of exchange.
  • Spanish America alone produced perhaps 85% of the world's silver during the early modern era.
  • Chinas huge economy demanded greats amounts of Silver.
  • Much of silver shipped across the Atlantic to Spain was spent in Europe.
  • The largest mine in the world was in Bolivia, with horrible conditions for the miners.
  • Latin America´s silver enriched the Crown, making Spain the envy of its European rivals only during the 16th century.
  • The value of silver dropped in the early 17th century as Spain lost its position and countries started looking for raw materials, historians call this a “general crisis”.
"The World Hunt": Fur in Global Commerce

  • Furs had long provided warmth and conveyed status in colder regions of the world. (North America, Siberia, Russia).
  • European population growth and agricultural expansion had sharply diminished the supply of fur-bearing animals.
  • These conditions pushed prices higher. Led to trapping and hunting.
  • Over 3 centuries enormous quantities of furs and deerskins found their way to Europe.
  • Led to many extinction of animals. 500,000 animals per year of animals such as deer, bears, beavers, foxes.

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