                                                 Notes 4: Global Commerce, 1450 - 1750

This weeks' theme "Commerce joined empire as the twin drivers of globalization during these centuries", Strayer, 670

       1. "Europeans now smashed their way into the ancient spice trade of the Indian Ocean" 669
   2. "Silver obtained from mines in Spanish America enriched Europe " and China, 669
       3. "Furs from North America and Siberia found a ready market in Europe and China" 669
       4. Slaves were bought, sold, and worked--sometimes to death--to create the new capitalist world.
     5. The Europeans used state and private companies to exploit the new resources and markets.

I. Causes of European Overseas Expansion (Strayer 670)
     1.   An temporary end to the worst of the plagues, and the growth of population
   2. The development of centralized, absolutist dynasties and states
     3. Dominance of major commercial cities: London, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Seville, Manilla, Potosi, Acapulco
       4. Religious & economic enthusiasm and optimism resulting from the Reformation
     5. Investments in scientific & technological skill to improve the economy
     6.   Major drive to break Venice and Constantinople's monopoly of trade with the East
       7. Trade deficits led to explorers seeking new markets and sources of gold/capital

II. Portuguese bases in Mombasa (15,000 natives killed!), Hormuz, Goa, Malacca, Macao, Timur -- all for the sake
         of  pepper and other spices. Portugal had a "trading post empire" for 100 years but gave way to the Spanish,
         Dutch, and British. Strayer 672-674

   pepper on the vine

III. By 1580 Spain conquers Portugal & its colonies (through 1640) and adds Las Islas Filipinas to its empire in
          1565 - 1898, three hundred years. (The US conquered the Philippines in 1898 and gave them freedom in 1946)

          1. Manilla becomes the European/Asian entrepot (in between place) center for trade.
      2. Roman Catholicism and male priests took over from women as spiritual and medical healers. (Strayer 675)
3. Chinese and Japanese began settling in the islands leading to cultural intermixing.
      4. The southern island of Mindanao (2nd largest island of the Philippines) remained Muslim and opposed to
             Spanish and Christian rule. It has just (2012) been given autonomy by the central Philippine government.
        5. Now-a-days the USA is involved in building up a network of bases (Diego Garcia) and friendly alliances in
    the Indian Ocean - Pacific Ocean as a means to exercise economic and diplomatic control of the area. Link
               "It is becoming increasingly clear that the world's strategic and economic center of gravity will be
                    the Asian-Pacific, from the Indian subcontinent to the western shores of the Americas."
              Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, 2012.

IV. British and Dutch East India Companies (joint stock companies with limited liability--Ltd) were established in
        1600 to capitalize on trade--the British in India and the Dutch in Indonesia. The European got the office jobs
        whereas the native peoples got the heavy-lifting jobs of planting, harvesting, hunting, curing hides -- and low wages.

   (676 Strayer) &Link
                                                            "The East Offering its Riches to Britannia"
                                                                                           (1778)

V. The silver trade (from Americas and Japan) supported the new global exchange system by creating a common,
global currency (the Spanish Dollar) to be used in buying and selling--i.e., capitalism.

1. Silver flowed westward from Potosi, Bolivia and Zacatecas, Mexico to Manilla and to China and eastward to
            Amsterdam, Holland and then out to England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Europe benefited from the
            silver, but Spain's elite squandered the treasure and did not invest in the country's infrastructure. The increase
            of silver and monopolies also led to inflation (the Price Revolution), with prices in Europe rising 6-fold over
            a hundred years (1550-1650). Link   Price increases and low wages also led to huge profits for bankers,
            joint-stock companies, and the new, absolutist/centralized states. Link

      2. On the other hand Japan under the Shogunate, 1568 -1867, invested its silver in the country's infrastructure of
            roads, markets, cities, and government. During the two centuries (1650-1850) of Japan's isolation the Shogunate
worked with "the merchant class to develop a market based economy and to invest heavily in agricultural and
            industrial enterprises". (Strayer, 681) These 200 years became the basis for Japan's "take-off" in the Meiji
            period, 1868-1912. Link   [The term "take off" refers to a stage in modern economic growth described by Walter
            Rostow in his 1960 book, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto].

     3. China acquired most of the world's silver ("silver drain", Strayer 682) because its economy was so large and
            efficient and had most of the goods people wanted. Chinese silks at 25 pesos outsold Spanish silks at 200
            pesos. (Strayer 682) In many ways today's Chinese economy is similar to the Chinese economy of the 18th
            century--a large economy and large market leading to money pouring into China and draining out of the USA,
            (deficit spending) leaving us with a massive national debt.

          A Spanish dollar (thaler) or pieces of eight (peso de ocho). Legal tender in the USA until the currency reform
          of 1857. The Spanish motto "plus ultra" ("farther beyond") on the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) gave rise to
          the US dollar sign $.

    4. The English were losing so much silver to China in trade, that they started selling opium to China in order to
           pay for the large quantities of tea being imported. But the Chinese accused England of drug-smuggling.
           England claimed "free trade" and in 1839 went to war (Opium Wars), beat China, continued selling opium,
           and took Hong Kong and several "treaty ports" as war indemnity. 1839 was the beginning of the end of
           Chinese sovereignty.

VI. The fur trade profited the North Americans and the Siberians for a while, but the West's exploitation of the
          beavers and sables eventually led to near slavery for the American and Siberian natives, low wages and prices,
          and environmental degradation because of overproduction of cash crops, and alcoholism. (685-688)--Hurons,
          Algonquians, Siberians.

Beaver hat, 19th century

                           John Jakob Aster (1763-1818) born in Waldorf, Germany, eventually cornered the fur market
                  in the USA through his American Fur Company, 1808-1848. He was the richest man in America at his
                  death in 1848, worth $20 million = $1.3 billion in 2011 currency.

VII. Other than silver, it was the Atlantic Slave Trade that had the biggest impact upon global history and trade
in the years between1450 - 1850. (Strayer, 687-97) Link

      1. From 1500 to 1866, 12.5 million Africans were sent into slavery -- equivalent to 2x Massachusetts' 2012
             population. The slave trade led to population decline, warfare, and lack of capital reinvestment for
             Africa's future. (Strayer, 693-697)

      2. During 1500-1866, 10.7 million slaves were sent to America with 1.8 million (14%) dying in the "middle passage".
              "The Atlantic slave trade transformed the societies of all of its participants". (Strayer 687)

      3. African slaves were considered valuable not as human beings, but because they were cheap labor, skilled
              farmers, immune to many diseases, were not Christians, were plentiful, and were black. Strayer 690.
              The hypocrisy of the Christian slave traders was eventually discredited by the fact that African-Americans
              became one of the strongest Christian and liberal segments of the US population.

      4. It is important to understand that various forms of slavery have existed ever since humans did, but the
              Atlantic Slave Trade we are studying, known as "chattel-slavery", was different than the domestic slavery
              that existed in Africa and elsewhere. African slavery was similar to European serfdom, lacking the racist
              notion that whites were masters and blacks were slaves. See Basil Davidson, The African Slave Trade. 1988,
              Link There is also a good article on the history of slavery in general at Link

A view of a slave fortress in Cape Coast, Ghana in 1996. Hundreds of thousands of Africans
were forced through its dungeons and loaded onto slave ships anchored along the Atlantic coastline

.
      4. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha toured the
            Cape Coast slave fortress on July 11, 2009. Link President Obama is the son of an African immigrant, and
            his wife, Michelle, is a descendant of African slaves.    (Note: Buchenwald--a Nazi concentration camp
            where thousands of prisoners were imprisoned and cremated).

      5. On 25 September 2012, President Barack Obama announced a new Federal and Private NGO fight against
             "modern slavery".   He called "human trafficking a 'debasement of our common humanity" urging the
             United States and the world to do more "to protect the estimated 20 million people worldwide who participate
             in forced labor, the sex trade, domestic servitude, or other conditions against their will." Link

     6. President Obama also gave a speech at the United Nations on 25 September 2012 urging the world--East and
            West, North and South -- to work for peace, to right the wrongs of the past, and to give young people
            everywhere a chance for happiness.

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VIII. Conclusion
A possible conclusion to this chapter is that the early modern world's globalization was based on war,
empire building, racism, and inequality, but the 21st century's globalization does not have to be--if we can learn
from history. And as the old saying goes, "Those who do not learn from history, are condemned to relive it".

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P.S.: A personal Comment: "The Germans and the Jews are especially bound together because of
their tragic history, just as Americans and Africans are bound together through theirs." dpc