The need to secure gold and silver to pay for Asian spices and textiles also played a role.…
1) Colonization has been prevalent since the age of mankind, likewise with economics. The economics of the world heavily correlates to the pattern of colonization that swept across the globe in the 1700’s. In the eyes of colonizers, their duties were strictly to enlighten the people of these univillied nations while retrieving goods to take back to their people. Going to places like Africa and Asia, natural resources were abundant, so colonizers felt as if taking these goods were not a disservice to the natives, but rather they were spreading the wealth to themselves. For example, the Spanish robbed the Americas of their “gold, spices, cotton palm oil their timber”(p39) all while redirecting the wealth back to Europe. Many colonizers failed to realize the century long ramifications they would create. Conversely, the natives were extremely aware that they were oppressed, attacked and abused.…
Jared Diamond argues that the ultimate explanation for why Europeans became a global powerhouse in the 15th and 16th centuries instead of the Chinese is because European civilization was established upon rainfalls – wheat and grain, which will develop anyplace, as long as parts of the year rains. Which this permitted farming groups, towns, villages and in the long run urban areas to rise self-rulingly, all over Europe. In making this argument, Diamond deemphasizes important political, cultural, technological, and economic factors including military technology and such. Ultimately, Diamond’s argument is convincing because the fact that the European political, innovative, and military power came to fruition because of geological luck, and not because the Europeans were at all socially or profoundly better than individuals of different parts of the world.…
In order to colonize, Western European countries had to cooperate with each other and overcome complications in Africa. As a result of Europe’s industrialization unemployment, poverty, and homelessness grew, factories were creating products but the people could neither afford them or were already owned (Iweriebor,2013:2). Africa was seen as an untouched market with endless opportunity for merchants to get cheap materials to create goods and sell them. (Hay,2002:104) One of the major complications that Africa had was the hazard of being seized with disease.…
In the “Old World”, trade played a large part in keeping the economy growing, developing and booming. In ancient West African Kingdoms Songhai and Mali, they portrayed a perfect example by trading salt, animal hides and of course gold. The Songhai was one of the biggest Islamic empires in history. It’s base power was the bend of the Niger River. Economic trade existed throughout the empire due to the standing army in the provinces. Songhai trade had a bigger influence on the “Old World”, because of their ability to conquer and establish strong trading grounds which demonstrated a valuable ethic.…
1. Exchange and trade of goods between communities in different ecological zones has been a prominent feature of human history. Trade emerged from the vast environment and cultural diversities of the region. Long distance trade became very important because if more distance was traveled then merchants could exchange with more cultures, and prospered when societies involved in these trade roads offered security for merchants and traders. The uneven distribution of goods and resources of both natural and human activity has long motivated long distance exchange. Natural resources gained many economical value and this motivated merchants to continue doing the long distance trade. Merchants were very high rated in the social pyramid because of trading these valuable resources. Human activity helped shape cultures in political and social aspects because merchants traveled around the world and learned the more efficient ways to govern and different cultures or rituals they could adapt. Trade helped shape and link societies and people from the entire world and this motivated and sustained long distance commerce.…
After reading “The Story of Foreign Trade and Exchange” I began to think about my company and the manufactures that we acquire our items from. We normally receive items from a company in the United States because they are local and the shipping is not as expensive. However, on occasion we import from a Honduran company when the United States company can’t produce as fast or if we need a bulk order. Our biggest problem recently has been getting the jackets we need fast enough for the Department of Corrections and their new hires. The new hires usually consist of 150 to 200 people all getting one jacket a piece. Both companies’ trade and exchange goods with one another to comply with customer needs in their country. The United States company does not have an absolute advantage in pants or jackets that are ordered in bulk, which is my company’s biggest need. The Honduran company has an absolute advantage in jackets and pants because it doesn’t take them long to produce both items in bulk and in an expedited time frame. The United States company would have a comparative advantage in pants if they stopped producing jackets and just made pants because they would produce more in a decent time frame and complete the bulk order. As for the Honduran company, they have a comparative advantage in jackets because it doesn’t take them long to produce jackets in the bulk that is needed if they stopped making pants. This analysis for both of these companies is very important for my company because when we have a demand for pants and jackets we know who we need to confer with for a faster turnaround time. If these two companies would do what the case study suggests and produce what is a comparative advantage for them, it would benefit them as well as their customers, including my company. One of the benefits would be the stimulation it would provide to the economy, the producer and consumer markets, in addition to…
If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world's countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.…
Foreign trade is one of the most important aspects of Asian and European Empires. Without trade, these empires would not have flourished in the manner that they did. Many different factors played a role in developing trade in their cultures. As various empires ruled from 2000 BC to 1911 in Asia and Europe, trade has had a major influence in the development of those cultures as seen today. The nation that has the most success in trading becomes the strongest nation and will last the longest.…
This began as early as the fourteenth century and lasted until machine industry began to overshadow commerce in the nineteenth century. In order to understand the sequence of these events, it is important to start by pointing out that Europeans rediscovered spices, silk and other commodities in Europe. Therefore, this progress created a desire for trade which increased in the Middle Ages. It can be say that the Europeans had a visionary mind, they could have kept all their goods, but they took the right decision by trading what they…
The exchange in technology between First Fation and the Europeans refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crop, and population between the old world and the new world. The technology influenced both the First Nation and Europeans significantly. Technology has facilitated all of them in several different ways. This paper focuses on the era of technology exchange to examine the effects on the Europeans and First Nation trading with each other. Technology back then wasn't as sophisticated as it is today, technology back then was anything that made a human life easier, from guns to even kitchen utensils were considered to be technology. Europe was an economic and technological power compared to the Indians. First Nation were impacted immensely…
TRADING BLOCS TODAY: A COMPARISM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) AND THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES OF THE WEST AFRICAN STATES(ECOWAS). This research title has been structured this way because it is going to focus on the history and the growth of trading blocs today and its relationship to international business.…
History has always been the key to our existence. We learn from our failures to better our future, just as we learn from our triumphs to excel even further. A very important time in the history of our world was the East Africa long distance trade .In the middle of the seventeenth century, East Africa had a far more important place in the world than other African countries .So wrote Marsh, Z.A & Kingsnorth G.W in their book An introduction to the History of East Africa ', published by Cambridge university press in 1965 .. They added that "The riches of East Africa were incomparably greater than those of the other African states." According to (Walter, 1966) East African countries were first African countries to be involved in long distance trade. Long distance trade resulted in the development of partnerships between the rulers of European countries and those of Africa who saw each other as equals. Some of the earliest European visitors to Africa recognised that many African societies were as advanced or even more advanced than their own. In the early 16th century, the Portuguese trader Duarte Barboosa said of the east African city Kilwa: There were many fair houses of stone and mortar, well arranged in streets. Around it were streams and orchards with many channels of sweet water.' Of the inhabitants of Kilwa he reported, They were finely clad in many rich garments of gold and silk, and cotton, and the women as well; also with much gold and silver in chains and bracelets, which they wore on their legs and arms, and many jeweled earrings in their ears.…
The founding of the People 's Republic of China in 1949 marked the initiation of contemporary China-Africa trade and economic relations .From the 1950s to the 1970s, African countries were preoccupied with their fight for national liberation while China worked to safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity. They supported each other, forged friendship and mutual trust, and laid g good political foundation for the future growth of trade and economic relations…
International trade is the exchange of goods and services across international boundaries or territories. In most countries, it represents a significant share of GDP. While international trade has been present throughout much of history, its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries. In this paper we will not go into the theories governing international trade but the focus will be more on its implications on economic development.…