Economic Renaissance in Fifteenth to Nineteenth-Century Afro-Eurasian and American Global Commerce
Afro-Eurasian Commerce - Causes
For some time, the influx of valuable Eastern goods was monopolized by Venetians and particularly Muslims. After all, Venetians established a monopoly in European trade of Eastern goods, and Muslims in Egypt reigned over Indian Ocean trade. A trade deficit where few European products were deemed valuable in Eastern markets led to Europeans being required to pay cash in either gold or silver for Asian goods. The trade deficit was largely tied to Europe being less economically developed than the Eastern world at the time. Incentivized to circumvent monopolies Venetian and Muslim markets had on certain trades as well as the European trade deficit, various European civilizations began investing in establishing direct routes of their own to Eastern riches located in Asia and Africa.
Afro-Eurasian Commerce - The Portuguese Trading Post Empire
One of these European civilizations was the Portuguese, who quickly constructed a trading post empire in the Indian Ocean. The withdrawal of Chinese voyager Zheng He’s massive fleet from the Indian Ocean in the early fifteenth century positioned the Portuguese to become the next dominant group in the region. The navy of the Portuguese also contributed to their overall success in the Indian Ocean, with more maneuverable Portuguese ships being armed with cannons that proved lethally capable in outgunning other naval forces.
As a result, despite the Portuguese’ economic deficiency in comparison to Eastern producers, the Portuguese were able to construct fortified establishments in East Africa (Mombasa), the entrance to the Persian Gulf (Hormuz), the Indian coast (Goa and Malacca), and the southern coast of China (Macao). The vast majority of these Portuguese bases were attained with force from weaker states.
Within their trading post empire, the Portuguese attempted to control commerce rather than territories or populations. The Portuguese would do so using force of arms instead of pure economic competition. The spice trade would become one market that the Portuguese would try to dominate, with Portuguese administrators in the East attempting to impose a pass—or formally known as a cartaz—on all merchant vessels and duties of 6-10% on their cargoes. Additionally, the Red Sea route to the Mediterranean was even blocked partially by the Portuguese, though these efforts would never come to allow the Portuguese to establish the monopoly on spice trade that they had wished for.
Eventually, the Portuguese trading post empire would become assimilated to the Indian Ocean commerce patterns. The Portuguese ended up offering their shipping services to Asian ports, marrying Asian women, and escaping their government’s jurisdiction and at times even converting to Islam. By the 1600s, the Portuguese trading post empire had become overextended, and their commercial control was no longer having the same effect it had formerly had on other states, and as various countries began to resist the Portuguese commercial supremacy, the trading post empire slipped away.
The Spanish Colony of the Philippines
Spain was the first country to contest the Portuguese’ trading post empire. The Philippines appealed to the Spanish because of its proximity to China and the Spice Islands, the absence of militarily strong societies as well as there being no competing claims, and after 1565, the Spanish established colonial rule on the islands of the Philippines. The Spanish conquest of the Philippines contained no bloodshed nor a protracted conflict, and instead ended quickly. Along with the Spanish who came to the Philippines, a Christian missionary effort spread to the islands as well. Filipino society thus became the one place where Christianity found solace in Asia.
Of course, with Spanish rule came colonial practices akin to those in the Americas. Filipinos were encouraged to move to more concentrated Christian communities, and tribute, taxes, and unpaid labor became routine occurrences. At the same time, Filipino women, who had previously led roles in society as ritual specialists, healers, and midwives, became replaced by male Spanish priests. Filipinos resisted the consequences of Spanish colonization by fleeing into interior mountains, though some found their ways to Manila, the new capital of the colonial Philippines. Manila’s rise to prosperity attracted numerous Japanese and Chinese. The Chinese that resided in the Philippines became integral in facilitating the Spanish’ economic ties with China in the region. Despite their important roles, the Chinese came under Spanish scrutiny and suffered hostility and discrimination. This was largely due to the Chinese resisting the Spanish’ efforts at converting them to Christianity. Periodic Chinese revolts were followed by expulsions and massacres of the Chinese by the Spanish.
Afro-Eurasian Commerce - The Dutch and the British
Both the Dutch and the English were significant players in uprooting the Portuguese and contributing to the history of Indian Ocean commerce. Both the Dutch and the British led their Indian Ocean commercial endeavors with private companies known as joint-stock companies that raised money and shared risks among various merchant investors. These joint-stock companies were known as the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, and they received charters from their governments that permitted them to establish trading monopolies and govern conquered people.
The Dutch easily conquered several of the Spice Islands in Indonesia as the region consisted of fragmented and relatively incapable governments. The Dutch aimed to control the shipping of various species but also the production of said spices. They did this by forcing the people of the Spice Islands they conquered to sell only to the Dutch. The Dutch believed that their trade on the Spice Islands was rightly given to them by God. Eventually, Dutch profits soared when they sold spice for seventeen times the price they paid in Indonesia, ruining the economy of the Spice Islands and leaving the natives impoverished.
The British East India Company, in comparison to the Dutch East India Company, was less economically sophisticated and instead established themselves in trading settlements along the Indian coast. The British navy was excellent at dominating the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, though British forces worked under the Mughal Empire, only attaining trading bases with the Mughals’ permission or through payments and bribes. The British merchants came to focus heavily on Indian cotton textiles that sold well in England as well as the English colonies in the Americas. The profits that the British and the Dutch attained allowed them to purchase Asian goods without having to pay for them in European gold or silver.
Euro-Asian Relations
European political influence was not as prevalent in Asia as it was in Africa or the Americas. By the time the Portuguese, English, Spanish, and Dutch arrived in Japan, the feudal and divided period of Japan experienced benefits from the ideas the Europeans brought. Eventually, a Christian movement arose in Japan. However, when the Tokugawa shoguns rose to power, they began to view the Europeans as a threat to the newfound phase of unity the Japanese had begun to experience by the seventeenth century. The Tokugawa shoguns began to expel Christian missionaries and suppressed the religion of Christianity in Japan. European traders were also generally banned from Japan (except for the Dutch since they were not very interested in spreading Christianity), and Japan entered a practice of isolation from European commerce.
The Japanese also had merchants of their own, who acted similarly to the Europeans, using force to support their commercial interests. These Japanese merchants did not receive support from their governments, unlike the European merchants, but traded in Southeast Asia nonetheless. Asian merchants benefited from the maritime commercial activity largely supported by the Europeans. Southeast Asian women merchants also became involved in international trade, this going to show how far Asian commercial activity increased in response to the upsurge in seaborne commerce started by the Europeans.
Indian family firms were able to monopolize certain trades, to the point where they could dictate European commerce to some degree. For instance, Virji Vora’s firm was able to force European merchants to pay high interest rates as he was the only source of loans in the region.
The Silver Trade
Silver was discovered in Bolivia and in Japan in great amounts. Manila in the Spanish-controlled Philippines received Spanish shipments of silver from Bolivia. This was the first instance of Asian-American cross-continental exchange. Silver would also amass in China, where Chinese authorities enforced a tax that was payable in silver. Consequently, silver demand jumped and silver began to circulate around the world where the majority of it was spent in Europe to pay for valuable Asian goods. The Spanish adopted a standard silver coin, known as a piece of eight, which saw use in North America, Europe, India, Russia, and West Africa. Regardless, China would remain the center for silver in the world.
The upbringing of Potosí in Bolivia was largely tied to the copious amounts of silver found there. The European elite that resided in Potosí enjoyed a plentiful life with access to various Eurasian goods, while the natives worked in silver mines in squalid conditions. The silver trade also transformed opportunities for women, where Spanish women experienced economic opportunities.
Spain, Japan, and China and the Silver Trade
Though silver had an enriching effect on the Spanish, there were also negatives. Silver generated inflation, and the Spanish’ rigid economy of monopolies as well as their aristocratic class prevented the Spanish from using silver productively. The inflation from silver impoverished many and incited uprisings, contributing greatly to the Spanish’ eventual loss of their title as the dominant Western European power.
The Tokugawa shoguns of Japan fared better with dealing with the silver trade. Profits from the silver trade were used to defeat rival feudal lords and bring unity to the country. It also helped that the shoguns allied with the country’s merchant class to develop a healthier economy. Ultimately, the nation itself benefited greatly from the silver trade, Japan’s success characterized by a population boom, a flourishing economy, and an averted ecological crisis.
Many in China throughout the zenith of the silver trade became desperate to sell either their labor or their products to pay for their taxes. The nation also experienced severe environmental degradation under this economic change.
The Fur Trade
European population growth and agricultural expansion significantly reduced the number of fur-bearing animals, driving up fur rarity. Additionally, cool temperatures from the Little Ice Age also consolidated the demand for furs. America became a hotspot for furs, with Europeans ready to take part in the fur trade. However, European merchants would usually wait for Native Americans to bring in the fur for them, leading to the natives becoming a labor force in the fur trade. The Europeans purchased furs from the natives with trade goods like guns, blankets, metal tools, and alcohol. The fur trade brought with it environmental concerns, too.
The fur trade was considerably beneficial for the natives that collected furs. Natives were able to negotiate prices with the Europeans when competition amongst the colonists occurred. The natives also benefited from the fur trade as the Europeans’ reliance on them (the natives) to collect fur protected the natives from extermination, enslavement, or displacement by European hands.
Regardless, the fur trade brought with it various diseases from Europe that decimated native populations and also warfare amongst the natives when economic stakes increased. Natives were also forced to partake in European imperial conflicts when the French and the British fought for control over North America. Native Americans also became very dependent on European trade goods. Various European goods proved more favorable over traditional goods, and native populations suffered when they had no way to manufacture the new European goods that they had adjusted to. Alcohol was another European import that wreaked havoc on native populations, with violence and addiction occurring in many places. The fur trade benefited men, as hunting and trapping animals was a male occupation, which decreased women’s authority. At the same time, feminine dominance in wild rice and maple syrup trade that was essential to European traders brought opportunities for women as well.
The Russian Fur Trade
The profitability of fur trade in Russia proved to be a major incentive for the expansion of the Russian Empire. Russian traders brought diseases to the native Siberians, encroached on native land, consolidated native dependence on colonial goods, and depleted supplies of fur-bearing mammals. The Russian fur trade also made use of native labor, imposing a tax payable in furs on every able-bodied Siberian male and took hostages to reinforce the tax. Siberian fur collectors and Russian hunters and trappers competed with one another. Something interesting to note is that Europeans paid for Russian furs with American gold and silver, leading to an intersection in the silver trade and the fur trade.
