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Commerce and trade in Middle Ages in Europe
Merchants in the medieval times
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When looking back on the changes and continuities of commerce throughout the Indian Ocean regions from 650 AD to 1750 AD, many noteworthy aspects can be seen. One such continuity was repeated usage of trade routes by different merchants and economic groups to import and export goods. Another significant change was the increase of involvement by European traders. Overtime they began to involve themselves more and more in the Indian Ocean trade networks and even began to colonize land.
As a result, the Portuguese was able to took control of the trades and because of their reputation of force, everyone is afraid to fight back and the Indian Ocean trade continue its
For an example, roads, waterways, railroads, and steamboats were being created. The industry started to change due to more factories being opened.
Between 600 CE to 1750 CE, the process by which trade was conducted on the Indian Ocean changed dramatically. With the new maritime knowledge in the Indian Ocean, larger ships were able to connect Africa to the rest of the Indian Ocean network, leading to merchant Diaspora which continued throughout the era. From 1000 CE to 1400 CE, African city-states began to grow and led to an intensified trading network throughout the Indian Ocean. With this increase in cross-cultural interaction, new technology, ideas and diseases were exchanged.
In the 16th century the Portuguese transformed maritime trade in the Indian Ocean to a large extent because of how much they changed the practices in the trade. First the Portuguese came to start war and push out
Before the Portuguese got into the Indian ocean to begin maritime trade there was mainly land-based trading going on with the nations/countries around them and some maritime trade. As the countries began to trade more and more they all soon had the products that each country around them had to offer. That’s when the Portuguese decided to try and transform maritime trade. The Portuguese wanted the three g’s every country dreams of: God, Glory, and Gold. Although many Scholars would argue that the Portuguese transformed maritime trade, they did not due to how power hungry they got and waging war with the nations and the effects left on the countries.
During the time period between 600 and 1450 C.E. along the Silk Roads the spread of luxury goods, and the spread of diseases and pathogens remained constant(Ancient History Encyclopedia) (About the Silk Road), while there were significant changes such as the Silk Roads reinvigorating during Mongol rule, and the increase of long distance and interregional trade (The Silk Road and Arab Sea Routes)( History Repeating). During the time period 600-1450 C.E. the increase of population caused many things to stay constant because a large population demands of certain things. One continuity that occurred between dates 600 and 1450 C.E. was the spread of luxury goods. The reason for this continuity is because luxury goods were highly sought-after, so the people that made that good wanted to keep everyone depending on them for that good, which kept the constant flow of luxury goods (Ancient History Encyclopedia).
As for the economy, many countries experienced inflation, an increased use of slaves, and a growth in trade and wealth as a result of the rise of silver. In society, the surge of
During the classical period, the Indian Ocean Basin was filled with diversity and assortment. The development of cross-cultural exchanges in the Basin brought new ideas, technologies, items, and different ways of thinking. During this evolving new era, multicultural exchanges of trade and religion were the most prominent in the Indian Ocean Basin. Cross-cultural exchange in the Indian Ocean Basin mainly included trade and religion. Firstly, document one and four explained the cross cultural interaction of the Indian Ocean Basin through trade.
As the volume of trade increased throughout the time period, an important change was the development of new technology, which occurred because, as the vitality of the Indian Ocean network increased, people began looking for better methods in order to trade more efficiently. This led to the improvement of naval navigational technology and naval transportation. Devices, including the magnetic compass, were invented and used by merchants to help direct their voyages. Stronger and more durable
During the period of time between 200 B.C.E and 1250 C.E, the Silk Road underwent many subtle changes while at the same time having continuities from 200 B.C.E. The trade of spices and goods to and from Asia and Europe remained constant, while the materials exchanged slowly changed. The Silk Road still had many continuities from the year 200 B.C.E. One of those continuities was that the original purpose of the silk road remained intact. One of those purposes was to get Asian agricultural products and trade them with European merchants along the Silk Road,and vice versa. This is a continuity because the sole purpose of the Silk Road remained.
One thing that has always remained the same in the region is the opportunities to trade with other nations and regions. The Classical Era saw strong use of the Silk Road, while the Post Classical Era allowed for the use of the newly renewed Maritime trade. Even still, the Early Modern Period saw the increase of trade with Afro-Eurasia with trading through the East Indian Trading Company and the Dutch East Indian Trading Company. Not only is there a change in the type of trading happening, the technology that happens around it changes as well. Currency slowly became an integral part of trading.
In this frame, there were also steamboats and railroads eras, which made a vast difference in the speedy process of supplying the customer with the much-needed goods in a more timely fashion, the steamboat reduced the cargo rates across the entire country, while the railroads were quicker than the steamboats and did not depend on waterways or mules and their rails didn't freeze over. The communication revolution made it possible for messages to travel in the greatest speed known, through the use of the telegraph, which made knowing something through the nation a matter of mere seconds. During the commercializing process, farmers didn't have to grow every single product that they used, they could now buy their items and clothing from their local market at a cost that they saw fit and reasonable. Farmers now had in their possession new and improved machinery that made their very lifestyles a more comfortable atmosphere, with the cotton gin being made public, slavery was now realized as the thing that would change the forefront of the
The improvement in naval technology such as square and triangular ships and sails, the knowledge of wind and currents, the volta do mar, and more facilitated and supported the increased interaction in the Post-Classical era. With the increase in technology in exploration, voyages were being made from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. These voyages led to an increase in trade and conflict, the spread of disease pathogens, the spread of agricultural products, and more. Southernization is the term for the diffusion of culture and technology and describes the phenomena above. Such culture and technology include the spread of Christianity, Islam, sugar, navigational technology, and more.
The first expeditions were done by relatively smaller enterprises which succeeded to reach the Asian continent, but didn’t get enough goods to cover more than the costs of the trip (25-27). As the competition arose between the Dutch trade enterprises, but also from for example from the national British trade enterprise, the Dutch Republic tried in 1598 to merge the Dutch traders. Only in 1602 the Republic succeeded to create Verenigde Nederlandse Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) also known as the Dutch East India Company which created a nearly 200 year lasting trading monopoly in South-East Asia (Ricklefs,31). This essay will focus primarily on the VOC, and its political, economic and cultural impact in the Batavia and Cape of Good Hope. The main goal of the VOC was purely commercial.