In this paper I argue how Commodities and Commerce had an impact on the Atlantic World. From the development of the early Atlantic World, or how commerce and commodities impact the relationships between diverse groups of people. Or how they impacted relationships between people and geographic space in the early Atlantic World. Commodities is a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought or sold. Commodities played an huge impact on the development of the Atlantic world, it helped largely shape European commercial aggression.Commodities actively brought people together in the Atlantic World. With the goods actively involved through commodities that's where commerce came involved. Since commodities was such a high demand in the Atlantic world that's when trading came involved. The intersection of southern Europeans quest for commodities and the labor to help produce them brought about the annexation of Atlantic islands and generated trade South along the African coast. This process was mainly for slaves and other commodities. A mainly priced good that was used for commodities was gold which help finance enterprises. (The Roots of an Atlantic system” Egerton 43) Gold had its own value which created more wealth because it help bring in more goods. From Commodities and Commerce the different dynamics of expansion before 1492, both commercial and imperial in Europe, Africa, and America shaped how people encountered one another in the Atlantic World.
The Vanguard of the Atlantic World by James Sanders seems to do little more than reiterate the concept that American republican modernity was debated by various countries located in Latin America in regards to their status as a united global political power. Not to say that these nations were united in terms of alliances, or treaties, but rather that some intellectuals adopted the concept of a “sisterhood” of republic democracies. The analysis of the political systems in Latin America after their independence from European nations is not where the disappointment lies, but rather the lack of context given to various components in his research that were supposed to show the transition of Latin America during its state of transformation from colonial territories to independent republican nations.
In a way it was a precursor to the oncoming storm of the slave trade and its global impact. However it is evident through the letters of Afonso, in this moment, that although Africans were collaborating with the Portuguese in trade that they did not want them to kidnap their nobleman or weakening its currency. Furthermore, the trade relations of the Atlantic Age specifically with the Portuegeuse and the Kongo help us understand the expansion of commercial exchange between West Central Africa and Europeans and give us a glimpse at the long-term and widespread impact it would have in
Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during
Assess the Impact of European commercial activities in the Atlantic Islands and West Africa from 1415 to 1600.
”(Foner 117) By the end of the 17th century, commerce was the foundation of empire and the leading cause of competition between European empires. Explain how the North American colonies were directly linked to Atlantic commerce by laws and
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.
The study of the Atlantic as an interwoven community is a relatively new theory. Historians are beginning to see Atlantic History as “a sudden and harsh encounter between two old worlds that transformed both and integrated them into a single New World” , and not just separate entities with detached pasts. Atlantic History: Concept and Contours by Bernard Bailyn lays the framework for what Atlantic History is and how it should be studied. Bailyn states that the reasoning behind writing the book is that previous historians focus too much on the imperial history of the Atlantic world, when in fact the colonized areas had just as much of an effect on European powers as Europe had on their colonies. In this concise two part book, Bailyn’s main argument is that the concept of Atlantic History was inevitable because it is impossible to look at any major event of this time period without seeing its effects ripple throughout the entire Atlantic world.
Between the years 1492 through 1750 a new world was discovered that was before unknown to the eastern hemisphere. New contacts were formed in the Atlantic world due to the discovery and colonization of the Americas and later African slave trade, which were both very major events of this time. These interactions mainly affected Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas, whose economies were broadened and social structures further developed and altered as a result.
1. Long-distance commerce acted as a motor of change in pre-modern world history by altering consumption and daily life. Essential food and useful tools such as salt were traded from the Sahara desert all the way to West Africa and salt was used as a food preserver. Some incenses essential to religious ceremonies were traded across the world because there was a huge demand for them. Trade diminished economic self-sufficiency by creating a reliance on traded goods and encouraged people to specialize and trade a particular skill. Trade motivated the creation of a state due to the wealth accumulated from controlling and taxing trade. Trade posed the problem of if the government or private
The South Atlantic Trade System was developed when slaves were transferred from the West Indies, this all being lead by the British. Sugar, a major part of the trade, was developing the British economic system and the more sugar gained, the higher
When examining the change and continuity of commerce in Latin America during the time period, 1450-present, some things changed and some things stayed the same. One thing that changed was the previous, trade which was limited to llamas and was therefore more regional. This changed due to the introduction of cattle due to the Colombian Exchange. One thing that continued for the most part was the items used for trading because of the natural resources in Latin America such as silver and various crops that were part of the culture and minimally changed. One thing that changed was the large variety of ethnicities and races that arrived in Latin America because of new economic opportunities situated in the area such as a mercantile job.
The controversial scholarly journal of Robert S Wolff explores the history of the first trade encounters between the Portuguese in Africa and Asia, controversy lying in its separation from the Western narrative. Throughout the article, the author is trying to figure out the motives or other considerations playing a role behind the actions of Portuguese and other Europeans, such as choosing violent ways of making a profit in the lands of Africa and Asia, rather than using the existing trade networks, to emerge as the world ruler. In his view, Europeans had claimed themselves to be the “center of the world” way before they have risen to that title. European countries were looking for profitable trade in wealthy lands full of gold, consequently lack of resources and other valuable goods became a barrier to their success in the already existing channels.This is seen in da Gamma’s first encounter with the local ruler of Calicut, where his gifts were considered substandard to that of the poorest merchant, as seen by the local advisor.
The Trans-Atlantic Trade system was created to satisfy the luxury demands made by Europeans. Europe began their search for better means of receiving their lavishes through the European migrants in the Americas. Europe received luxuries such as fur, silk, timber, sugar, rice, and tobacco from the America, and in return, the Americans received manufactured goods such as guns and furniture, as well as spices, tea, oils, and tools. Because of the growing demand for luxury items in Europe, and the decrease of Indian slave labor, Africa, and the Americans created a slave trade in return for luxuries such as rum, tools, cloth, iron, and gunpowder. Slaves were by far the biggest export of Africa and the largest import into the Americas, ultimately starting the popularity and increase of the Trans-Atlantic Trade.
From 1650-1914, economic interaction in the Atlantic Basin stayed the same in that Europe remained dominant over trade while economic interaction in the Atlantic Basin changed in that the slave trade decreased and the trade of raw materials and manufactured goods increased.
According to the OECD (2012) merchant shipping activities remain the pillar of global trade, with more than 80% of international cargo transported via sea. Throughout history, maritime activities have played a vital role in shaping the world, from fishing, to the transport of people during the age of discovery, as well as global trade. With world trade growth being the core driving force behind maritime trade, other factors include; institutional and technological factors, freedom of trade, as well as China’s participation in the global economy (World Ocean Review n.d.). As shipping is a derived demand, developments in maritime transport are thus shaped by global macroeconomic trends. The biggest problem in shipping is the ability to forecast long term freight rates, and current tools such as generalized autoagressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) are often aimed at short term correlation. GARCH is an approach which helps describe market volatility (Investopedia n.d.). Freight rates essentially drive the shipping industry in terms of fleet size, and are often a good indication of the strength or weakness of the shipping market. The volatile state of the current market means the accurate need for forecasting and keeping up to date with trends is imperative. This report aims to provide an overview of current trends in merchant shipping.