how has commerce, industry, and trade influenced the course of world history since 1450?

by Prof. Gunner Beahan MD 4 min read

Why is the history of Commerce important?

Jan 10, 2022 · Trade – the bartering, buying and selling of goods and services – has been a vital human activity since earliest times. An ancient series of trade routes, designated the 'Silk Road' by a 19c historian, ran from the Mediterranean through Bukhara and Samarkand to Dunhuang and on to Xian (Chang'an) in central China and was used by Alexander the Great to conquer Persia.

What is commerce and how did it shape the world?

May 03, 1964 · Trade in Its Time; MERCHANTS MAKE HISTORY. How Trade Has Influenced the Course of History Throughout the World. By Ernst Samhaber. Translated by …

How has the global economy changed over the centuries?

Conclusion. The history of commerce is, in many ways, a history of the world. Commerce and international trade shaped — and were shaped by — geography, climate, politics, peace, war, fashions, gastronomic taste, language, and so much more. From the Silk Road, which connected China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe, to the ...

How coffee influenced the course of history?

"History of World Trade Since 1450 starts at a year regarded as the beginning of the Age of Exploration and examines how the hunt for new resources and markets during that period resulted in the establishment of colonies in Africa, the Americas and Asia. The set looks at the Industrial Revolution, the rise of capitalism and the effects of imperialism on the global …

How did trade Change 1450?

1450 to 1759 was a period of large-scale change in global trading systems. The Americas joined the Afro-Eurasian trading system, and Europe commercialized and began its global expansion and conquest.

What were the intellectual and cultural effects of trade networks from 1200 to 1450?

Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450. Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovations.

What were the two major changes in the world between the years 1450 to 1750?

Key Takeaways — AP World History Period 2 (1450-1750) New diseases, crops, people, and cultures were distributed throughout the world. Technological improvements in shipbuilding and gunpowder weapons allowed European empires to form and exercise a more prominent role in world affairs, eventually leading to colonialism.Jan 13, 2022

How did economic developments from 1450 to 1750 affect social structures over time?

Explain how economic developments from 1450 to 1750 affected social structures over time. In the period of 1450 to 1750, the economic systems related to the Triangular Trade affected the social structures by creating New World European social hierarchical systems in both the British and Spanish colonies.

How did the growth of empires influence trade and communication?

The expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time by strengthening routes that allowed for the diffusion of cultural and technological innovations. Trade: -Trade routes strengthened due to the expansion of empires.

How did trade networks influence the expansion of empires?

Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes—including the Silk Roads, trans-Saharan trade network, and Indian Ocean— promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities. The Indian Ocean trading network fostered the growth of states.

How did certain land based empires develop and expand between 1450 and 1750?

EQ #1 : How did certain land-based empires develop and expand in the period 1450-1750? Imperial expansion in Europe and Asia resulted from the increased use of gunpowder, cannons, and armed trade to establish large empires. Most of the groups that were conquered were weak or disorganized.

How did various empires increase their influence from 1450 to 1750?

Thesis: The methods by which various empires increased their influence from 1450 to 1750 were through conquering other empires because then they could impose their culture on the former empires they conquered and by religious missionaries because they seeked to spread their empire's main beliefs, both these factors ...

How did the European establishment of new trading post empires?

Europeans established new trading-post empires in Africa and Asia, which proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks, but these empires also affected the power of the states in interior West and Central Africa.

What were the effects of the development of state power from 1450 to 1750?

Explain (Describe) the effects of the development of state power from 1450-1750. -State expansion and centralization led to resistance from an array of social, political, and economic groups on a local level. -Slave resistance challenged existing authorities in the Americas.

What continuities and changes occurred in the slavery system from 1450 to 1750?

Changes in slavery after 1450 Slavery shifted from the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean regions to the Atlantic region. Slavery becomes racialized and associated with blackness. Slavery became the foundation of entire economies, not just components of a larger economy.

How did economic developments affect social structures?

Capitalism also impacts meso-level social structure in many ways. Competition in the labor market encourages workers to move to areas with more employment opportunities and better paying jobs. For this reason, capitalist societies often experience high levels of migration and urbanization.Dec 18, 2021

How did trade work in the early centuries?

In the early centuries of trade, markets functioned as a new meeting place. Where people used to coexist within their already determined familial, religious, and/or social communities , trade brought people (and wares) together from far and wide.

What is the history of commerce?

The history of commerce is, in many ways, a history of the world. Commerce and international trade shaped — and were shaped by — geography, climate, politics, peace, war, fashions, gastronomic taste, language, and so much more. From the Silk Road, which connected China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe, to the advent of ecommerce, ...

What is commerce in business?

Commerce refers to all the activities around the exchange of goods or services for something of value like currency or, in bartering societies, other goods or services, including the process of getting those goods from manufacturer to customer, and everything in between.

Why is the cowrie shell important?

The cowrie shell — the shell of a mollusk found at that time in the Pacific and Indian Oceans — is important to the history of currency because, as Glyn Davies writes, it “was current over a far greater space and for a far greater length of time than any other [form of money].”

What is B2C commerce?

B2C commerce refers to a business selling a product to a consumer — for example, if you buy a shirt from a department store or a pair of new headphones from an electronics store. 2. Business-to-business (B2B). When businesses sell products to other businesses, that’s B2B commerce.

Why is banking important for a business?

Especially in a business’ earliest days, the issue of financing can be a challenge. Banking provides the financial support that merchants need to get — and keep — their businesses running, and to bridge the gap between the time that something is produced and when it is purchased.

When was paper currency invented?

Paper currency was first used by the Chinese during the Tang Dynasty as a form of promissory note, but it took another century or so for it to really catch on and evolve into the kind of currency we know today.

How has trade grown over the last century?

Trade has grown remarkably over the last century. The integration of national economies into a global economic system has been one of the most important developments of the last century. This process of integration, often called Globalization, has materialized in a remarkable growth in trade between countries.

Why was the world wide expansion of trade possible after the Second World War?

The world-wide expansion of trade after the Second World War was largely possible because of reductions in transaction costs stemming from technological advances, such as the development of commercial civil aviation, the improvement of productivity in the merchant marines, and the democratization of the telephone as the main mode of communication. The visualization shows how, at the global level, costs across these three variables have been going down since 1930.

What is trade openness index?

The so-called trade openness index is an economic metric calculated as the ratio of country’s total trade (the sum of exports plus imports) to the country’s gross domestic product. This metric gives us an idea of integration, because it captures all incoming and outgoing transactions.

What percentage of global exports come from foreign inputs?

The production chains for these goods and services are becoming increasingly complex and global. According to recent estimates, about 30% of the value of global exports comes from foreign inputs. Most trade theories in the economics literature focus on sources of comparative advantage.

What does it mean to express trade values as a share of GDP?

Expressing trade values as a share of GDP tells us the importance of trade in relation to the size of economic activity. Let’s now take a look at trade in monetary terms – this tells us the importance of trade in absolute, rather than relative terms.

What is preferential trade?

A preferential trade agreement is a trade pact that reduces tariffs between the participating countries for certain products.

What is a trade transaction?

Trade transactions include goods (tangible products that are physically shipped across borders by road, rail, water, or air) and services (intangible commodities, such as tourism, financial services, and legal advice).

When did guilds start?

The first guilds began to appear in Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries, during the period of time known as the High Middle Ages. A guild is a community of people engaged in the same skilled occupation (like blacksmith or tanner), who work together to further their interests and protect their industry. Guilds were a common way to organize labor throughout Medieval Europe.

How many voyages did Zheng He do?

From 1405 to 1433, the explorer Zheng He conducted seven voyages on behalf of the Ming dynasty for the purposes of diplomacy and trade. After his death in 1433, the Ming dynasty vastly reduced its naval expenditures due to increasing military threats.

Which Eastern Mediterranean island was conquered by Richard the Lionheart and served as one of the last bastions of

During the Third Crusade, which Eastern Mediterranean island was conquered by Richard the Lionheart and served as one of the last bastions of Christendom in the East during the Crusades' decline?

How did coffee influence the course of history?

How Coffee Influenced The Course Of History : The Salt Once people figured out how to roast the seeds of the Coffea plant in the 1400s, coffee took over the world. In doing so, it fueled creativity, revolutions, new business ventures, literature, music — and slavery.

Why did Europeans carry coffee with them?

Europeans carried coffee with them as they colonized various parts of the world, and this frequently meant they enslaved people in order to grow it. "One of the ironies about coffee is it makes people think.

What did coffee plantations do in Brazil?

In Brazil — where slavery was legal until 1888 — coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture, tearing down rain forests and planting coffee trees that depleted the nutrients in soil. Once the soil had been sapped, growers would move on to another place. And then there are history's many coffee naysayers.

Where did coffee grow?

Coffee plants grow wild in Ethiopia and were probably used by nomadic tribes for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the 1400s that people figured out they could roast its seeds. "Then it really took off," historian Mark Pendergrast — author of Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World — tells Morning Edition host ...

When did Americans switch to coffee?

It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when American colonists raided British tea ships and threw crates of tea into the harbor, Americans universally switched over to drinking coffee. "There's a lot of truth to the story, I found," Pendergrast says.

Where was Lloyd's of London founded?

The insurer Lloyd's of London was founded hundreds of years ago in one of London's 2,000 coffeehouses, he notes. Literature, newspapers and even the works of great composers like Bach and Beethoven were also spawned in coffeehouses.

Did coffee make your husband impotent?

In 1674, women in London were convinced that coffee made their husbands impotent. And yet, in an age when beer soup was the breakfast of champions, coffee had one undeniable health benefit: "Western civilization sobered up," Pendergrast says.

Why did the lower class turn to alternative methods for acquiring tea at a cheaper price?

The cost for the lower class was too high and so they turned to alternative methods for acquiring tea at a cheaper price. Tea smuggling was a popular trade at the time. It was a popular commodity, easy to store and very light.

Why did the Chinese send spies to China?

They sent spies into the ports of China to learn the mysterious methods of how to grow and harvest tea leaves. The spies had to dress in traditional Chinese attire and bring translators, as the Chinese were not welcoming to foreigners.

What was tea used for in the Opium War?

Tea played a sneaky role in swaying the outcome of the Opium War, much to the relief of Great Britain. However, Great Britain probably wasn’t so thankful when tea made its next appearance in Boston.

Why did tea smugglers lose money?

They were also losing money due to China’s restrictions on the trade of (you guessed it) opium.

Is tea a catalyst for change?

In several instances, tea has acted as a catalyst for historical change . This might seem like an absurd idea, but in the book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, the author outlines the many reasons why this is true. The most obvious historical change that tea caused was of course the Boston Tea Party, but the story I have chosen ...