Chapter 14 Part 2 - Economic Transformations

Part 2 of chapter 14 mainly focuses on the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Atlantic Slaved Trade took place between the years of 1500 and 1866. About 12.5 million people were taken from Africa and were transported on ships to the Americas or other parts of the world. This aspect of globalization surely had the most profound consequences on human life.

Within Africa, the slave trade caused many changes as well. Some societies were completely disrupted and corrupted, while on the other hand some African societies were strengthened. Since so many of these African slaves were transported to the Americas there were elements of African culture that was mixes into the making of American culture. Issues of race caused by this forced slavery are still present in the 21st century due to the absolute oppression of these people.

During the Atlantic Slave Trade the type of slavery that emerged was quite different from the other forms of slavery that were present prior to this. The slaves were absolutely essential to the economy of colonial America. The slaves were treated as dehumanized property who did not have any rights in the society of their owners. The identity of Africa with "blackness" arose at this time, which was unfortunately passed down from generation to generation.

Something that is interesting is that the Europeans did not attempt military conquest when they obtained slaves from Africa. The African merchants and political elites actually sold the slaves and were dealt with like equals to the Europeans. The African slave sellers would buy textiles, cowrie shells, metal goods, fire arms, tobacco, alcohol, ect... In the seventeenth century the slave trade was generally low in numbers, however between 1700 and 1850 the slave trade hit its high point. Millions of slaves were imported from Africa during these years.

The slave trade produced economic stagnation and social disruption. In Africa, there was little positive change since those who were benefiting from the trade did not invest in their societies. Because substantially more men than women were shipped to the Americas, the women who remained in Africa faced increased labor demands. In the Kongo, elites of would obtain their own . female slaves for labor. Different societies through Africa faced different impacts from the slave trade, with some being positive and many being negative.

Ultimately globalization took root in the three centuries of the early modern era. Unfortunately this era was tied to empire building and slavery which was fortunately discredited by the twentieth century. Nonetheless, the early modern era globalization transformed the economy as people knew it and truly turned it into a global economy.

Chapter 14 Part 1 - Economic Transformations

The introduction for this chapter begins with a quick summary of the transformations that were made globally during the early modern era. Europeans found their way into the slave trade, the spice trade, East Asian commerce, and the fur trade. Although Europeans did in fact play a large role in these actions of modern commerce, there were many other groups all around the world that played a role in developing this global network. These groups include Southeast Asians, Chinese, Indians, Armenians, Arabs, Africans, and Native Americans.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover the sea route to the East. When they arrived in Asia, they discovered a rich network of commerce stretching from East Africa to China. Europeans began to grow more and more interest in Asia and part of this had to do with them finally recovering from the Black Death. Populations were growing and some cities were turning into centers for international commerce. European products were much less attractive than those products coming from Eastern markets. This is what made them have to pay in gold or silver, which attracted the explorers to seek out gold and silver deposits in other areas of the world.

The Portuguese saw an opening in the Indian Ocean due to the lack of powerhouses controlling it. They were quick to establish bases and multiple places within the Indian Ocean. This was called the "trading post empire", and they were seeking to control commerce with arms and force. They successfully monopolized a highly profitable route around Africa to Europe and partially blocked a Red Sea route to the Mediterranean. This trading post empire was short lived as the Portuguese were simply overextended and becoming outnumbered by rising Asian states.

The Spanish realized that they were behind Portugal and were the first to challenge their position. They established themselves on the Philippine Islands and created outright colonial rule on the islands. They also turned the Philippines into the only major Christianity outpost in Asia.

The East India Companies were trading companies chartered by the Dutch and British governments that had the power to make war and govern the conquered people that they encountered on their Indian Ocean ventures. The Dutch seized control of a number of spice producing islands as well as briefly establishing themselves on Taiwan. The British East India Company established three major trading posts in India. They were focused on obtaining cotton textiles from India.

The silver trade was even more prevalent than the spice trade in creating the global network of exchange. There was a large supply in silver due to the discovery of rich silver deposits in Japan and Bolivia. Silver was beginning to be used as a form of currency as the Chinese required its population to pay in silver. It was also being used to trade for Asian goods and African Slaves. In essence, the silver commerce was transforming the global economy of the early modern era.

The production of furs, silver, textiles, and spices had a major impact on the environment and on the societies that used produced and consumed them. The demand for fur had greatly increased due to the Little Ice Age which created strong incentives for European traders to obtain fur from the large fur-bearing animals in North America. The French were prevalent in the St. Laurence Valley, the British pushed into the Hudson Bay Region, and the Dutch were along the Hudson River. These three empires were big rivals for the North American furs. There was a great environmental impact of this sudden increase of killing fur bearing animals and many fur bearing species were depleted.

This is the end of the first half of Chapter 14. The next half talks about the Atlantic slave trade and its consequences.

Chapter 13 - Political Transformations

Chapter 13 mainly outlines the European colonization of all different regions of the world. Those empires of Western Europe were able to conquer territories that lay much further away from them which was something that was very new during this time period. The Europeans were much more motivated to colonize than the Chinese, Indian, and Muslim empires because these empires already had rich markets. On the other hand European's were becoming aware that their region was marginal compared to the others. This factor combined with other factors such as the desire to avoid reliance on Muslim intermediaries between Asian wealth made the idea of colonization very desirable for Europeans.

There were many consequences that came with European conquest. The most significant one was the complete collapse of Native American societies. These Native peoples were not used to the European and African diseases that they came across and this nearly took out all of their population. The amount of death that came across these areas was in the tens of millions. This phenomenon is known as the Great Dying. Many immigrant newcomers came to the America's because of rapid population loss of the Natives. This included both the African slaves and the colonizing Europeans. This brought rapid change to the America's because they brought their foreign plants and domesticated animals which were not originally in America.

The main colonial areas in the Americas were the Aztec and Inca lands of Mexico/Peru, the settler colonies in the New England area,  and the sugar colonies in South America. Each of these colonial societies had their respective European colonizers and they each had their own distinctions.

Although a large part of Chapter 13 talks about the Europeans and their colonization in the America's, there is also quite a bit of information at the end of this chapter regarding the different empires that were emerging throughout the world. First comes the Russian Empire, which was beginning to take shape and expand eastward and westward . They took over Siberia and the Steppes and completely Russified the people of these areas. Next, the textbook talks about the building of the Chinese empire. Chinese expanded into Central Asia, inhabiting Mongolia, Xinjang, and Tibet into their empire. The rest of the chapter summarizes the Muslims and Hindis in the Mughal Empire as well as the Muslims and Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

Ultimately, there was an enormous amount of political transformations occurring all over the world. This time period from 1450-1750 gave way to a complete world transformation and new patterns of development followed all of these empire forming projects.

Intro to Part 4: The Modern Era

Hello readers of my World History Blog!

In Strayer's introduction to Part 4, reader's are introduced to the Early Modern Era, which is a span of three centuries ranging from about 1450 to 1750. In this era, we are able to discover that some of the early signs of the modern world began to arise.

One of the main phenomenon that began to occur in the Modern Era was globalization. This occurred in many parts of the world, from the journeys of European explorers to America as well as the slave trade which connected Africa to the Western Hemisphere. Europeans were also able to use precious metals to start moving into ancient Asian trade routes.

Population growth also began in China, Japan, India, and Europe because these areas were finally recovering from the Black Death as well as the Mongol Wars. Population growth also occurred because the America's were producing foods that were capable of feeding larger numbers of people. Unfortunately, population growth was limited in Africa due to the slave trade.

This Early Modern Era was not all positive... larger empires began to form across Asia and the Middle East, and in the Americas, which did indeed lead to the intensifying of human pressures on land. Forest's felled, marshes drained, and the list goes on.

Because it is called the Early Modern Era, the name would suggest that the world was more similar to what we now it as today. However this is far from correct. European domination, as well as fully modern societies did not completely exist. It was very unclear whether or not European societies would completely dominate the planet. Many of the aspects modern industrial society did not exist either. There was still no extremely efficient modes of transportation, steam powered factories were not on the rise, and the lower class was still comprised of rural peasants.

Although people were still living in their long established, traditional ways, the Early Modern Era was definitely changing the world. Chapters 13, 14, and 15 will explain the new empires that formed, the emergence of long distance trade, and the new cultural trends.

All done setting up my new blog!