how did long distance trade shape and affect the course of history in the 16th century?

Long-distance trade then expanded, with the commercial integration of the two economic poles in the Mediterranean and in Flanders and the contiguous areas. It has been quantitatively shown that the integration of European markets began in the late medieval period, with rapid advancement beginning in the 16th century.

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How did the Renaissance affect long-distance trade?

Jun 30, 2020 · Long-distance trade then expanded, with the commercial integration of the two economic poles in the Mediterranean and in Flanders and the contiguous areas. It has been quantitatively shown that the integration of European markets began in the late medieval period, with rapid advancement beginning in the 16th century.

What was the long distance trade in the Middle Ages?

Levant Trade. At the beginning of the Renaissance, the key to long-distance trade was in the Mediterranean. Access to the Chinese and Indian markets passed through Muslim lands controlled by either Arabs or. Turks. Europeans called all of the trade that flowed from that direction the Levant trade, their term for the Middle East in general. The situation made …

Why is long-distance trade so important?

The Continued Tradition. Overview. The British overseas trade of the 16th to 17th centuries went through two major phases separated by a lengthy interim period, which can be described as a transformational period that defined the English trade to come for several centuries. These two phases are quite dissimilar in their broad aspects, and there is a clear break of continuity by the …

How did trade affect the development of the New World?

Jan 07, 2019 · Wu Chengming has conservatively estimated that 30,000,000 shi of grain entered long-distance trade in the eighteenth century, or enough to feed about 14,000,000 people. This would be more than five times a generous estimate of Europe’s long-distance grain trade at its pre-1800 peak and over twenty times the size of the Baltic grain trade in a ...

What was the effect of long distance trade?

- The long distance trade led to the introduction of cowrie shells in the interior as a medium of exchange. - The long distance trade led to the decline of agriculture and hence the outbreak of famine in the interior because the energetic young men were sold off as slaves.

What were the effects of long distance trading in East Africa?

Effects of the Long distance trade on the people of East AfricaThe trade led to Development of towns e.g. Mombasa, Lamu, Kilwa, Pemba and Zanzibar.It increased the volume of local and regional trade as varieties of new goods were introduced.More items...

What was traded in the 16th century?

Tea, silk, and porcelain were traded for wool, tin, lead, and silver. Slowly various goods from the East became available to the wealthy elite of Europe. These goods were rare and considered luxury items.Nov 17, 2017

What is the role of long distance trade in society?

Long-distance trade brings into contact societies which are not familiar with each other. They exchange products whose cost of production is not known to the other society, rare products which have no substitutes.

How did trade impact East Africa?

How did trade affect the peoples of East Africa? It expanded their territory and increased the creation of city-states. It also brought business for other important goods needed in the area.Dec 15, 2021

What is East Africa long distance trade?

Trade in East Africa is the so called “the long distance caravan trade”. It is different from the caravan trade of other areas; the Sahara, Arabia peninsular, Middle East, etc., because of the means of transportation.

Why is trade important in history?

Most people understand the benefits of exports, but imports from America's trading partners also benefit Americans. They give consumers greater purchasing power, as trade allows them to buy a wider variety of goods at lower prices.

What did they trade in the 1700s?

The colonial economy depended on international trade. American ships carried products such as lumber, tobacco, rice, and dried fish to Britain. In turn, the mother country sent textiles, and manufactured goods back to America.

What is the history of trade?

Trade originated from human communication in prehistoric times. Trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who exchanged goods and services from each other in a gift economy before the innovation of modern-day currency. Peter Watson dates the history of long-distance commerce from c. 150,000 years ago.

What are the reasons for the development of long distance trade?

- The presence of plenty of trade items to the interior e.g. Slaves, ivory, gold, honey. - The increased demand for foreign goods e.g. mirrors, beads, guns by the interior tribes led to the development of the long distance trade.

How did trade encourage cultural diffusion in Africa?

How did trade encourage cultural diffusion in Africa? Although trade brought goods, it also brought along with it foreign ideas, beliefs, and customs to the country carried by the people. What cultural ties united people in African societies? Family ties played an important part.

What was the biggest constraint to the development of long distance trade in African society?

What was the biggest constraint to the development of long-distance trade in African society? Geography. Africa's vast expanses and lack of large mammals made trade difficult to conduct outside of rivers.

THE PROFITABILITY OF TRADE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN IN 1515

Below is an account taken from Tome Pires’s Suma Oriental (1515). Pires was contador (accountant) of the royal factory at Malacca and is generally recognized as the best early Portuguese observer of East Indian trade.

Sources

Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century, 3 volumes, translated by Sian Reynolds ( New York: Harper & Row, 1982-1984).

What was the caravan trade?

The caravan trade of the nineteenth century opened up the interior, bringing many African peoples into the world economy as suppliers of ivory or slaves or producers of food or local products that provisioned caravans. The pioneers of all the major routes were African traders. Nyamwezi caravans from central Tanzania, reaching the coast about 1800, ...

When was Tabora founded?

Arab traders inserted themselves in the center of Nyamwezi country—and its politics—when they founded Tabora in 1852 in a locale that was already a hub of trade routes. Tabora served as a stopover for caravans going on to Ujiji or north to Buganda. Both Ujiji and Tabora are small urban centers in present-day Tanzania.

What is a caravan?

Caravans: Labor-Intensive, Expensive, and Risky. A caravan of human porters carrying goods over long distances was a labor-intensive, and therefore expensive, means of transportation. There were no roads or railroads. Draft animals were too susceptible to deadly tropical diseases such as sleeping sickness.

What was the chief export of England in the seventeenth century?

Wool as well as the various cloths made out of wool was the chief and almost only export of England until the middle of seventeenth century. These two products compromised the overwhelming bulk of the English exports to Antwerp, where they financed the purchase or barter of the Continental European and Eastern goods. While woollen cloths themselves enjoyed a lasting tenure as the chief export of Britain, plain wool, not weaved in any cloth collapsed as a market commodity by 1521. (Lloyd 1977, 257-263)

Where did lead come from?

English lead, while not as vital to Europe as tin, was nevertheless an important metal export as well, originating from Derbyshire. Both of these metals were just a part of the bounty of English mineral deposits, as England also held significant copper, iron and coal deposits.

What is a nap in wool?

Finally, a nap is a process that involves the scratching up a single side of the fabric to be brushed and shorn even.

What was the significance of the creation of a truly global exchange network in the sixteenth century?

The creation of a truly global exchange network in the sixteenth century decisively increased the scale, significance, and variety of informational and commercial exchanges. The coming together of the different world zones of the Holocene era marks a revolutionary moment in the history of humanity….And the new level of creative synergy generated by linking the two largest world zones – Afro-Eurasia and the Americas – was and remains perhaps the most powerful single level of change in the modern world.

How did globalization begin?

Globalization began when all heavily-populated land masses initiated sustained interaction – both directly with each other and indirectly through other land masses – in a manner that deeply and permanently linked them.

When did price convergence occur?

According to the logic of our definition, the 19th-century price convergence described by O’Rourke & Williamson occurred during globalization’s third century; and we are living today during globalization’s fifth century.

What is the history of silver?

For one thing, silver flowed from European to Asian markets throughout the period 1540s-1640, while gold simultaneously counter-flowed from Asian to European markets during the same period; this silver-against-gold exchange pattern recurred across EurAsia during the period 1700-1750. That is, the monetary substance gold was persistently exchanged for the monetary substance silver for generations. Since conventional monetary theory requires aggregation of various monetary substances into a category called ‘money’, conventional monetary aggregation impedes understanding of why specific monetary substances flowed to individualized locations (often exchanged against other monetary substances). Indeed, none of the world’s four major monies – silver, gold, copper, and cowries – ever traveled in tandem together as ‘money’ throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Each substance was produced in specific areas, enjoyed distinct end markets, and followed individual trade paths between production sites and end markets. Supply and demand conditions for each monetary substance must be studied independently. [18]

Is globalization a historical process?

The term ‘globalization’ is no exception, since it aims to encompass social processes with manifold characteristics. Our intention is to show that globalization is a historical process with sixteenth-century origins. Definition of terms is revisited below in Section 2. The Columbian exchange.

How did the Portuguese influence the West African trade?

The arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century in search of new trading opportunities changed the trade networks in West Africa. An important change was the new direction of the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean instead of the Sahara desert. This increased the power of small West African kingdoms like the Asante and Dahomey kingdoms. It also contributed to the fall of the Songhai Empire, because the slave and gold trade were no longer going through the Songhai kingdom. As a result, the Songhai rulers could not claim tribute and taxes from these kingdoms.

What was the Atlantic trade?

The Atlantic trade brought about great prosperity in this region. These states were known for their skill in politics and for their “middleman” skills in commerce. Their long history of internal trade had brought these small states together and led to economic growth of Bonny (also known as Igbani) and Warri states.

Where did the first African civilizations come from?

The earliest African civilizations south of the Sahara desert were in West Africa. These civilisations developed at a time when most of Europe was experiencing the Dark Age, after the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire around 476 A.D. the people of West Africa could already smelt iron ore to make tools for warfare and agriculture.

What is the role of West Africa?

West Africa is home to many of Africa's oldest kingdoms. These kingdoms played an important role in the development of trade and economic growth of the region. As old kingdoms came to be replaced by new smaller ones many changes were experienced. The transformations were influenced by conquest and warfare along with patterns of trade.

How many miles is the Niger Delta?

The states of the Niger Delta extend for about three hundred miles along the Gulf of Guinea from the Benin River on the West to the Cross River on the East. Due to the many rivers, which cross over each other, the main source of transport was by canoe. Societies found in this area include the Ibo, Ijaw, Jekiri Efik and Calabari.

Where did the slave trade take place?

African slaves were captured from Africa to work as slaves in the Americas in the early 1500’s. Portugal, Spain, France and Britain were the key players in this slave trade, which lasted for more than 400 years.

What was the Songhai culture?

Culture, Religion and Monarchy. The Songhai had settled on both banks of the middle Niger River. They established a state in the 15th century, which unified a large part of the western Sudan and developed into a brilliant civilisation.

What was the triangular trade?

The core of the triangular trade, ca. 1600-1800, was the exchange of slaves for materials and goods – African captives brought to eastern Atlantic ports, exchanged for gold or British manufactured products , then transshipped brutally to colonial depots – Charleston, New Orleans, the Caribbean islands, and in smaller numbers, New York, for example.

Who is Philip Scranton?

Philip Scranton is University Board of Governors Professor, History of Industry and Technology, at Rutgers University. Prof. Scranton also directs the Hagley Museum & Library's research arm, the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society.