Thursday, September 17, 2009
Age of Oceanic Trade
I think the time period between the 1500's and 1600 can be described this way because almost every empire was involved with trade across vast seas. Their was an extensive amount of trade between the Portugese, Chinese and East Africans. As Spain began to conquer the Aztecs and Incas, trade began increasing between Europe and the Americas. Most of this consisted of livestock and crops such as potatoes, corn, tomatoes and fruits. However, along with this came diseases. There was also a lot of trade between the Indian Ocean. Europe also benefitted greatly from this because they were able to make a connection with Asia. This gave them access to resources they would never have.
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I support Rehan on his claim that trade heavily influenced this time period. However, i feel that one thing that should be added to this argument is the silver trade. A majority of the world's silver at the time was found in PotosÃ, Bolivia. This silver was exported through trading routes to most of the rest of the world. China developed the highest demand for silver very quickly due to the fact that Chinese officials forced the Chinese people to pay their taxes in silver. With Chinese merchants desperate for silver, foreign traders took advantage of cheaper goods. This all lead to a worldwide outbreak in silver trade.
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