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.
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