The World's Impact on Trade
In the early fifteenth century the way of transportation was via ship. This transatlantic world called for other means of survival than just food alone. Therefore, people needed more to stay alive and pleased. Ships helped out with many tasks including getting from one part of the world to the other, discovery of new territories, cultures, foods, and goods, but most importantly, it helped out with trade. Through the help of the ship, brave sailors, and newly discovered merchandise, trade helped Europe dominate and expand over the world. It is difficult to comprehend how Europe became so powerful when the view of the globe was so narrow. They did this through purchasing goods, moving them to another territory where they were not known and selling them for a profit. This was known as mercantilism and the Europeans did it with much eagerness. By the sixteen hundreds, the Europeans covered most of the shores of America and came into contact with Africa. Africa was a home to wealthy kingdoms, primarily in West Africa, based on a trade of gold for salt. West Africa needed salt and North Africa wanted gold. Europe came to be involved with Africa in what started out as wanting a part of the gold, but ended up overpowering th
e cities in Africa. They took the feeble citizens as slaves to sell for trade, and they succeeded in doing so. Some citizens volunteered as indentured servants thinking that they were going to be paid, but it ended up as a rude awakening for them. Slaves, sadly, provided cheap and reliable labor to provide commodities for the west European markets. About ten million slaves from Africa ended up in the New World plantations, while many more were captured and died on the way over. If there was a profit to be made, the people were interested. Cotton was another key item and was one of the main reasons why Europe's trade with Asia did not compare to the trade with the Americas or Eastern Europe. Foreign cotton was popular due to it being light, bright, inexpensive and washable. Some people feared that national security was dying out by the loss of money that was used to pay for the product. These thoughts brought uncomfortable issues on how the government was going to secure the laws forbidding the import of Indian cottons. Finding something to sell in the Asian market was also and issue. Asia was uninterested in European products and Europe was unenthusiastic about sending money to pay for the products they sought after. In the end, Europe was able to out do Asia with inexpensive machine-made goods. One might argue that the Europeans were voracious and wanted to trade on their terms by taking out the insiders. In doing so, the Europeans traded directly with the other trading companies including Portugal, Spain and Holland. The Europea
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Europe Foreign, Hudson Bay, Africa World, North Africa, Europe Dutch, East India, Furthermore China, Henry VII, System Trade, company trade, east india, money pay, west africa, trade routes,
Approximate Word count = 1050
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
