Global Economy: Commerce and European Expansion

Transformation in tradition allowed for the growth of merchant capitalism



1. This played a significant role in European expansionism; the conquest and exploitation of other lands and peoples


2. For the most part, European mindset in the accumulation of wealth and power gave them the ability to conquer the world so effectively


1. Transformations and the Origins of the European Invasions




1. Breakdown of Feudal System




1. Lords and peasants


2. Gruel;lords were trying to differentiate their diet from the peasants, and avoided simply eating gruel (boiled wheat, horribly disgusting!)




1. Different types of food were developed




3. Manager class develops




1. I.e.: millers, bakers, smiths, merchants




4. Lords, who become Kings and Princes because of their growth in power, eventually search to have more power due to the competition


5. Renaissance individualism needs to be remembered throughout this




1. Due to the breakdown of the feudal system, since there is a middle class, as well as the individualism, there is a drive for wealth, particularly among Lords and Princes




1. Mercantilism: Partnership between mfg/merchant elite and rulers to enhance wealth for the state through strict control of commerce




6. Merchants and Kingdoms grow in power and wealth, and the focus is on a growing of power and wealth among these kingdoms and merchants




1. i.e. Christopher Columbus




1. Is a Merchant who builds contact with some of the powerful monarchies of Europe; Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, who are seeking faster wealth through a more direct trade route to India


2. His "discovery" had already been made by the Vikings, but anything that was "discovered" during this period as a way to increase wealth become more prominent




2. Increased Contact; these four things shaped how people came into contact with other people




1. Renaissance culture; humankind is the centre of economic, political, social activity




1. People are not constrained by cosmology or religious beliefs (morals, and superstition)


2. Mankind had become the reason for economic activity, the gods




2. European civilized, learned world




1. They are thinking about Man’s place, specifically Europeans’ place in the world




3. Religious reformation; competition for souls


4. Calvinist ideology of wealth




1. Personal wealth is a sign of righteousness


2. Wealth became something that you could hold onto, and something that you could strive for, because it was a sign of God’s blessing upon you (yeah right!)




• What is the "other"?




• Uncivilized, barbaric, pagan


• "new" world




3. Tradition and the "others"




• Tradition had remained much more constant in the other places of the world


• Americas- i.e. Aztec empire




• This tribe believed that the Sun God could come back every 52 years, and destroy all the people if the sacrifices were not worthy; it just so happened that the Spanish contact occurred at this point in time




• East Asia- i.e. Ming Dynasty




• Zheng He; travelled like crazy




• Approached contact through Confucian mindset; treat people with benevolence, because of the mandate of heaven, etc.




4. Age of Expansion




• Ownership and control is sought


• Accomplished through the process of colonialism




• It would be too difficult to maintain control across the ocean, so people are "put on the ground"


• The belief that only ____ (insert people here) had the right to rule and control resources; this belief was particularly strong in Europe




• For Example, Spain laying claim to all of South and Central America




• Set up rulers throughout the land




• England; far too weak to conquer anything, so mostly pirates are used in the 1500’s, and in the 1600’s they begin to colonize and settle


• France, Portugal, Dutch Republic


• Marginalization: all of the other cultures are pushed to the side (people of Africa, India, etc)


• Finance capitalism; the people who financed the merchants get their money back; originally it is the kings, but it moves more towards merchants, who are amassing capital, and sponsor these explorers




• By the 1600’s, the explorers are no longer important, especially since they don’t really make any money from what they do


2. Invading Africa and the Americas




1. Indigenous populations; what happens to them?




1. There are as many as 200 000 000 people living in the Americas when Columbus arives




1. This number is down to 1 500 000 people in about 100 years, due to disease primarily, and then war




2. A lot of wealth is gained from the Americas




1. Resources; gold, silver, furs, timber, etc.




1. Very quickly take these items, especially in south America, where there was a lot of gold




2. Products; cotton, grain




3. Sugar trade (developed in the late 1400’s by the Portuguese)




1. Becomes a very desired commodity


2. Becomes a symbol of wealth/status in Europe




1. Extremely expensive, due to the amount of labour and shipping needed, so the Dutch develop something called joint stock companies




1. First one known as the Dutch West India Company (created in 1621), people would pool their money and own a share of the company, and receive yearly dividends




1. This was how to raise capital, but how to pay for labour?




2. Plantation agriculture




1. Both the Portuguese and the Dutch hiring European workers, but they are expensive, and there is not a lot of labour, since there are wars going on; Portuguese turn to indigenous people




• They knew the land, so it was easy for them to escape, and they died of diseases all the time




2. Turned to African slaves, and the Atlantic Trade Triangle




• Triangle was; guns brought to Africa, to get slaves, that were brought to America, where sugar/cotton/etc.was picked up and brought to Europe


• Impact: Accumulation of capital in Europe, especially among:




• Merchants


• Investors




• Lloyd’s of London, invested in coffee, and is now a massive bank




• Race Slavery; discrimination was now based on physical attributes, where one race Is better than another


• Chattel slavery




• Slaves, for the first time in history, were viewed as non-humans, and treated as such; like horses or cattle


• Treated as mere property, and throughout the Caribbean, slaves are often worked to death




• Total number of people shipped from Africa to the Americas between 1518-1850 was 30 000 000




4. African Responses




1. Collaboration; some elites work with the slave traders; such as




1. The African King of the Kongo, in the early 1500’s




1. Sought European goods, and got those goods by trading slaves; goods such as silks and more particularly guns


2. Sent warriors out to other areas to capture slaves for trade


3. This creates a type of destabilization because other people seek to usurp the king of the Kongo by offering better deals to the Europeans to attain guns




1. "Many of our subjects eagerly covet Portuguese merchandise, which your people bring into our kingdom, to satisfy this disordered appetite they seize numbers of our free or freed subjects and…sell them to the white people, This corruption and depravity is so widespread that our land is entirely depopulated, [and we don’t want to trade with them anymore!]"




2. Survival




1. War occurs between different tribes, in order to avoid being captured as slaves




1. The tribes that you are defending yourself against will have access to guns, so you need to start trading slaves in order to attain guns for your own tribe




1. I.e. Angolan coast; the value of a human being was approximately 2 guns




5. Effect of slavery on Europe




1. Human labour is seen as a commodity




1. This paves the way for paid labour




2. Social Stratification




1. There is an increase, as more goods flow into Europe; the people at the top of European society get very wealthy; but there begins to grow many different levels




1. Kings/monarchs, bakers/merchants, peasants, workers, servants




1. All now have access to things like bread and cake, even the lowest in the society




2. Social stratification in the world: one nation becomes rich, while another nation becomes very poor (Europe vs. Africa)


3. Invading the Indian and Pacific Oceans




1. The European countries had still been attempting to get to India in an efficient way


2. Portugal was able to do this




• Prince Henry made a navigation school (1419) that was specifically made to find a route to India


• They sail further and further south, until they eventually manage to sail all the way around Africa, and are able to enter the Indian Ocean trade network




3. Indian Ocean Trade Network




• City-states, where local small rulers controlled trade, and their was significant merchant enclaves


• The Portuguese approached this area with their commonly held mindset; "we are superior, and all others are to be under us"




• Take over the port in Goa (1510)


• The Chinese don’t care who controls the ports, they will continue to trade, so the Portuguese realize that this could be a very profitable enterprise




• Malacca (1511)




• Whoever controlled Malacca could control the spice trade, because of its position


• Was controlled by Arabs


• The Portuguese attack Malacca and kill all of the Muslims…all! They build warehouses, and place trade restrictions and taxes onto other merchants; they build a military fort…and a church




• Note; the Chinese had never taken control of Malacca, because it went against their Confucian beliefs, but the Portuguese were focused on their European mindset; gain control, power, and wealth!




• The Dutch come in the 1600’s


• The British come n the 1600’s, dominating India and some parts of China


• This control is generally focused on the Ports, and they don’t really go inland at all


4. Confronting Large Polities




1. Ming China (1514)




• The Portuguese were not content, and they want control over China


• the Portuguese land near the city of Hong Kong


• The Emperor referred to Portugal as barbarians, and waited for them to bring tribute…since that’s what Asians would do!


• Portugal never came, and they demanded trading rights from the Emperor




• Portugal was like a fly on the back of an elephant, nothing compared to China


• The Chinese government says; sure, we won’t be bothered, so we’ll give you Macao, and restrict your trade like crazy




• The Portuguese had to be content




• English and Dutch




• They are restricted to a Canton, heavily restricted in a lot of their trade, and there’s nothing they can really do about it because China is so large: this stays the same until the 1800’s




2. Japan




1. Close their borders to foreign trade; only the Dutch and Chinese are allowed to trade with them




1. Deshima :Dutch & Chinese are relegated to this small Island , off the coast of Nagasaki (1640)


2. For the most part, European trade is rejected by the Japanese, and they isolate themselves from European expansion




2. Japan is able to do this, because it is far to large for Europe to conquer, and it is too distant (50 000 000, roughly)




1. This is an example of the limits of European expansionism, even as they are driven to attain wealth