The+World+Economy



As expeditions from Europe to other areas such as the Americas, Africa and Asia, new trades routes began to develop. With more interactions from different societies, some areas became crucial places because of the items found. Along with new trade routes and commerce, diseases were spread throughout the routes to areas that have never encountered them. Certain countries such as Europe dominated these trade routes.

Notes Pg. 350 - 359 MI - Previous interactions with the rest of the world fueled Europeans with the need for imported goods. Although Europe was in a bad shape in the beginning of this need, they became a more powerful and dominating force.
 * The West's First Outreach : Maritime Power **
 * European leaders becoming aware of the world around them
 * Crusades = knowledge of Islamic world's superior economy
 * Mongol Empire = more exchanges between civilizations of Europe + Asia
 * disadvantages to European in new era
 * ignorant of the wider world and still believed the world was flat
 * feared the Ottoman Empire's strength
 * lacked gold needed to pay Asian imports

New Technology: A Key to Power MI - With new military advancements and other technology Europe gained an advantage over all other civilizations along the trade routes.
 * new technological advancements
 * ship with large hulls capable of carrying heave armaments
 * used and improved the compass along with other navigational devices
 * guns and cannons (used gunpowder from China)

Portugal and Spain Lead the Pack MI - Of the many European countries, Portugal and Spain had launched successful expeditions to many different areas of the world while at the same time claiming lands and trading exotic goods.
 * Henry the Navigator organized series of expeditions, each expedition went further down the African coast
 * eventually sailed around the **Cape of Good Hope**
 * attempted to find India for easier access to cloths and spice
 * in another attempt to go to India, Portuguese faced problems after believing Indians were Christian = hostility of Muslim traders
 * Da Gama used guns to intimidate Indian merchants
 * Spain reached out to the world with a greater force
 * recently freed from Muslim rule, full of missionary zeal and a desire for riches
 * Christopher Columbus set sail to find India, found the Americas instead
 * under Ferdinand Magellan, an expedition reached the Philippines and took control of it
 * Portugal gained parts of Africa, port of Goa, lease on Chinese port of Macao and claim over Brazil
 * Spain gained Mexico and South America, took Florida and later the southwest U.S

Northern European Expeditions MI - Northern European countries that later launched expeditions play a key role in trade due to the creation of two powerful trading companies overseas.
 * British/Dutch looked to gain dominance over trade and focused on Americas since they couldn’t challenge Spanish/Portuguese colonies
 * Dutch East India Company created by Netherlands, Britain and France
 * not supervised by own state
 * British East India Company created by the British
 * similar to the Dutch, traded fur instead of spices

MI - Many changes occurred as Europe’s maritime dominance was generated which included interactions, trading and new empires.
 * Toward a World Economy **

The Columbian Exchange of Diseases and Food MI - Since Europeans had already been effected by many harmful diseases, they have become immune but with new global interactions, many other civilizations were badly effected by diseases.
 * extensive international contact = spread of disease
 * Native Americans suffered smallpox and measles
 * large proportion of native population died which allowed Europeans to add in their own population
 * new world crops spread through merchants
 * American corn/sweet potatoes now in China, Mediterranean and Africa
 * food = key role in world system
 * animals were also introduced such as houses and cattle

The West's Commercial Outreach MI - Although two European trade companies were created, they did not have full control of trading where Muslims and the Chinese traded.
 * European did not have full control of Indian Ocean
 * Muslim traders remained active
 * any hope of successful Muslim rivalry against European naval power ended after the battle of Lepanto in 1571
 * direct control not feasible = formation of special Western enclaves in cities
 * international trading gained growing importance in regional economies

Imbalances in World Trade MI - European countries looked to benefit themselves in terms of trade and claiming new land while on global expeditions.
 * competition between European countries
 * Spain dominated due to silver from Americas
 * England, France Holland had merchants who had firmer status
 * Western Europe expanded its manufacture greatly
 * mercantilism
 * urged nation-state not import goods from outside its own empire but sell export as widely as possible
 * areas not like core nations produced low-cost goods such as precious metals and cash crops
 * the slave trade also began

A System of International Inequality MI - Not all areas gained from the global interactions that occurred, some areas were forced to produce things for European countries.
 * many minorities were involved in the production of the goods but were unable to become well traders
 * dependent economies relied on cheap production of unprocessed goods
 * peasants forced into labor without legal freedom to leave

How Much World in the World Economy? MI - Although European countries had the most global interaction during this time, Asian countries actually benefited the most with help from the government and the fact that Europe wanted Chinese goods.
 * China benefited the most from the world economy
 * Chinese gov’t avoided international trade on someone else’s terms
 * they also kept European activities in check
 * because of Europe’s need for Chinese goods, they were paid in silver Europeans had mines from the Americas
 * Japan attracted many Westerns
 * was opened for Christian missions
 * encouraged a military industry
 * other societies not affected by global trade because participation levels were low

The Expansionist Trend MI - Countries that had much trade and were able to continue it expanded greatly.
 * the list of countries involved in the world trade increases to more Asian countries
 * British and French East India Companies gained bigger roles in internal trade
 * India maintained its complex regional economy even though there was a plan use India as a place to sell British goods
 * growth of cities = growing market for imported grains

Pg354 Indepth

If I had to choose a single determinism as a basic to social change, I would pick technological. Technological would be the determinism as a basic to social change because with more development of technology, everything else will also benefit. New technology would aid the economy and possibly the culture of the civilization would be shaped by the newly developed technology. The professed motives of Western explorers and colonists have differed from their real motives when they interacted with other civilizations more and more even if it through trade or wars. They might have not remembered the discrepancy due to multiple interactions and might gain a sense of unity. Motive was to est. a trading area and to claim land but motives changed to trying to create an empire.

**__Early Patterns of Colonization in the Americas and Africa__**
 * **Spain and Portugal in the Americas:**
 * guns/horses/iron weapons/political disarray/pop. loss = opportunity to est. new colonies
 * Spanish => first to colonize
 * colonized West Indian islands after Columbus's voyage
 * Hispaniola -> Cuba -> Jamaica -> Puerto Rico
 * settled on mainland to search for gold (early colonizes developed due to gold hungry Europeans)
 * first colony est. by **Vasco de Balboa**
 * early colonies had loose control over native population
 * agricultural settlements created and official colonial systems est. => more formal administration
 * active missionary efforts ||
 * **The British and French in North America:**
 * colonies differed from the ones est. in Latin America
 * colonies in North America created by religious refugees
 * gov't grants of land = efforts to recruit settlers
 * Canada
 * first settlements launched by the French gov't
 * plan was to set up manorial estates under great lords with restricted rights
 * French peasants urged to emigrate
 * difficult to create adequate labor force
 * high birth rates = **New France**'s population to have 55,000
 * Britain attacked France's strongholds in the **Seven Years War**
 * France lost colony under the terms of the **Treaty of Paris**(1763)
 * British/French valued West Indian holdings whereas Dutch valued Asian colonies
 * compared to Latin America, North America only produced timber and fur
 * taxes = revunes, expanasion
 * colonists were avid consumers of political theories written in Europe (John Locke)
 * wide reading and discussions
 * Native Americans began to be moved West due to diseases
 * agriculture society => horseback hunting
 * African slave labor
 * new york was taken by the british from the dutch ||
 * **African and Asian trading stations:**
 * from coastal settlements, Portuguese sent expeditions to search for slaves
 * **Cape Colony** was planted by the Dutch on the Cape of Good Hope
 * to form a coastal station to supply Dutch ships on-route to Asia
 * **Boers**(farmers) expanded after being sent to the colony
 * clashed with local groups and enslaved some of them
 * European colonies in Asian
 * Spain set an administration in the Philippines and active Catholic missionaries
 * Dutch East India company administered portions of the main islands of Indonesia/Taiwan
 * as Mughal empire began to fall => French and British began to take over
 * British East India Company had advantages in Mughal Empire collaspe
 * gained a station at **Calcutta** through local princes
 * company had huge influence of British gov't
 * used British superior navy
 * French power in India destroyed
 * rivalry with British lead them to capture Calcutta and about 120 British died in jail
 * Britain used this incident to rally forces
 * British recapture Calcutta
 * impact of colonies = development of the world economy
 * colonial administrations pressed for economic advantage for home country
 * used open markets and commercial production of cheap food and raw material ||

Summarize the motivations and method of colonization employed by Europeans in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

The Europeans were motivated by economical gains through colonization of areas in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Portugal and Spain were the first of many European countries to begin expeditions into the new world. Their first intensions for setting out these expeditions were to establish a trade route to the Indies. By trying to create these trade routes, ships must sail around the tip of Africa to reach the Indies. By sailing close to Africa, colonizes were established primarily to be used as refueling points but as time progressed these areas were somewhat controlled by the European with more force. Many other European countries became major competitors in Southeast Asia such as the Dutch, Holland and British. With these major competitions occurring, two powerful trading companies, the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company, were established. European trade in Asia mostly benefited Chinese areas due to European need for Chinese goods. The Chinese benefited thanks to the European’s lust for gold and silver which caused expeditions to go to the Americas. North America was mostly controlled by the British and the French whereas the Spanish and the Portuguese controlled areas in Latin America/South America. Colonizes were established in this side of the world primarily so that raw materials and some crops can be produced and then brought back to Europe. Also some colonizes were taxed as a way to gain revenue from these oversea areas. The British and the French seemed to have been major rivals in the Americas which is clearly shown in the Seven Years War where the British used their superior naval power to defeat the French in Canada. French colonies were handed over due to the Treaty of Paris. Many of the European countries whom launched expeditions had done them to ensure economical gain for themselves. The countries competed to control the Indian Ocean and can be shown by the creation of the two powerful trading companies. Their methods of colonization were aided by technology borrowed from the Chinese and fueled by their lust for gold. Each European country had preference in their colonies that were established in various areas: the Dutch with their colonies located near Asia, British/French in North America and Spain/Portugal in Latin/South America. All the colonies differed from one another mostly due to their geographical features; North America was only able to produce timbers and fur where as South America could produce food and mine gold/silver. Another motivation for European to colonize over the world is the religious factor. The want to spread Christianity to many other people could be one of the main reasons for global interaction other than trade since in some cases colonies have tried to convert the native people.