Politics and religion both played roles in the
economic transformations that took place through commerce and each had
significant consequences. Eastern
markets were not very interested in European products and therefore instead of
trade, Europeans had to pay with cash/ gold and silver for their products. The Portuguese wanted to find their own sea
route to India so they did not have to deal with Venetians or Muslims. Arabs,
Persians, Indians, East Africans and some Chinese were mainly Muslims while
Hindus, Christians, Jews and Chinese also had roles in the commerce network. Portuguese wanted to have peaceful
trade. They figured out most merchants
in Indian Ocean did not have many arms or cannons like they did so they tried
to out maneuver and set up many bases within that area. Portuguese tried to control commerce to
monopolize the spice trade and for a while partially blocked the Red Sea route
which gave them control of about half of the spice trade to Europe. The Portuguese eventually carried Asian goods
to Asian ports, were outnumbered by Asian traders and ended up marrying Asian
women to get out of being controlled by the Portuguese government. Many converted to Islam. When their empire started to decline the
slack was picked up by Japan, Burma, India and Persia. Other Europeans countries wanted to get a
piece of the action for spice trade. Spain
established colonial rule in the Philippine Islands and with the majority being
Catholic, they had a major missionary effort being the only major outpost of
Christianity in Asia. Many Chinese
settled in Manilla and were essential to
Spain’s growing economic relationships.
However Spain turned hostile towards the Chinese and there were revolts
and massacres with the Spanish killing approximately 20,000 Chinese on the
island. The Dutch and English were even
more of a threat to the Spanish than the Chinese. They killed around 15,000 to take over an
island and then used slave labor to produce the crops. Europeans presence was much larger in the
Americas and Africa than in Asia. Japan
initially welcomed Europeans who had more knowledge with regards to military
technology. Christianity converted at
least 300,000 but after civil war, again Christian missionaries were destroyed,
Christianity oppressed and Japanese were forbidden to travel due to Europeans
now being regarded as a threat. Next to
spices, silver was even more of a global exchange. Silver was the first direct link between
Americas and Asia, with furs joining the global commerce next. Europeans population growth had diminished
their supply of fur bearing animals and they looked to North America for
deerskins for leather and skins besides fur. Native Americans and Siberians had
same consequences when dealing with Western European and China; this leading to
many dying because of diseases, germs, guns instead of bow and arrows and the
introduction of alcohol. The Atlantic
Slave Trade was the most profound in the network of commerce and exchange. It was an ancient practice of people owning
and selling people. So here we have had
greed, countries trying to take over certain commodities where they could get
rich because everyone wanted these items. Religions not agreeing and yet going
into wars and massive killings taking place and then the biggest of all, what
was termed as the ancient practice of slave trade... all for making a buck and
not letting everyone have a small piece of the pie instead of wanting the whole
pie for themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment