Robbie said...11/10/09

In class on Monday and Tuesday we talked about silver and trading posts. These two topics were the two main ideas of each class, as we watched the video on global trade. We learned that silver caused the birth of global trade to occur. There was a tremendous demand for it in China, after China shifted from its paper currency to having silver as the common medium. The major exporters of silver were Japan and Spanish America, and China was the dominant consumer. In Spanish America, Potosi was the largest city, and contained great mines. Thousands of Indians labored there and played a significant role in the Mita System; a system of labor in which the Indians would work in the mines and extract silver. Going back to China, taxes and salaries were now to be paid in silver, as well as any transactions that occured. Although the ratio of the silver in China to Spain was once 2:1, China was known as the world's "silver sink", and eventually accumulated so much silver that the value of silver decreased, causing inflation.
As we take a look at the trading post empires, we see that the Portuguese had established them because they had the earliest desire. They set up more than fifty between West Africa and East Asia, mostly in the Indian Ocean Basin, by pushing their way into already-established ports and by the use of the heavy artillery they had. By the late 1500s, we see a great shift, as both the English and Dutch began to gain power and control of trade. We see this shift because the English and Dutch saw the Portuguese becoming powerful even though Portugal was such a small country, and started to pick up the pace themselves with faster, cheaper, more powerful ships. They had the joint stock companies backing them which gave them an advantage over the Portuguese, because the Portuguese had their government backing them and didn't have the joint stock companies like the English and Dutch. Again, this control of trade took place in the Indian Ocean Basin.
When we look at European Conquest in Southeast Asia, we see that Europeans had trouble forcing their will on the Asian people. This is so because they weren't powerful enough to take over the already established empires set up there, such as the Ming Dynasty, and Mughal and Ottoman empires. However, there were two exceptions; the Europeans were able to force their will on both the Philippines and Indonesia. There was no established central authority in the Philippines, which made it easy for the Spanish military to come in and take over. They conquered them in 1565, and then, in 1571, set up Manilla, an influential city in terms of global trade. They also spread Christianity, set up schools, and tried to "Europeanize" the Filipinos. It was the Dutch who set up major trading posts in Indonesia, such as Batavia and Java, and were interested in nothing but TRADING CONTROL. They did not care about Christianity, expansion, colonization, etc. as long as they were making money. The only political control they had was in Batavia, but other than that, they're sole purpose was to engage in trade.


Hope this helps everyone out!
Hope you're all having a great Veterans Day!
Robbie
Next up...Nick Salerno