History Of The Nutmeg Trade

In the late fifteenth century the Portuguese were expanding its kingdom in Africa where it tapped into the existing gold and slave trades of the western Sudan and West Central Africa (Ehret 339). By the early sixteenth century, the Americas became a major player in the global commerce system as the Spanish and Portuguese began to carve at the land and importing and exporting sugar, tobacco, and slaves. Slaves in this moment were the chief commodity that the Portuguese sought from West Central Africa as they provided the free labor that was needed to cultivate and maintain sugar plantations in the Americas. However, the slave trade was not a one-sided system, in fact many African elites, like King Afonso a Nzinga of the Kongo allowed for the buying and selling of African people to Europeans. In other words, Europeans traded with Africa because Africa allowed it to happen, however, there are moment when the demand overshadowed the supply. The slave trade and its many complications is one way in understanding the expanding commercial exchanges between Europeans and West Central Africans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This essay will analyze the letters King Afonso Nzinga wrote to the King of Portugal, Joao

The Indies and more specifically Ambon Island would be the stage for this massacre by the Dutch East India Company. What is more important than this is exactly what the Indies had to offer for both companies at the time. In short, the answers are trade

When one queries the assessment of the European commercial activities and its impact in the Atlantic Islands and West Africa between the years 1415 and 1600, trickery, social violence, intrusion and the horrors of slavery comes to mind. There were many negative impacts such as population loss, loss of self worth and loyalty, the Europeans involved caused the demise of the European cloth industry. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot in this area in the fifteenth century. During the history of Portugal (1415-1542), Portugal discovered an eastern route to India that rounded the Cape of Good Hope, established trading

On the 31st of December in the year 1600, ‘The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’ received a Royal Charter to be England’s trading representative in India. By they early part of the 17th Century, Britain had already eclipsed Portuguese interests in India. The company bought in cotton, silk, indigo, opium, saltpeter and tea mainly in exchange for silver bullion. These were valuable commodities in Britain at that time. By 1720, 15% of British imports were from India.

During particular time periods whichever product rose to popularity, whether it be cotton, rum, tobacco, or sugar, became the means of buying and selling or trading. Two major products that the people of the “new world” depended on during the early colonial times were tobacco and sugar. Both Virginia and the Caribbean were able to be successful and bloom due to these two major products. Virginia and the Caribbean had many similarities as well as differences on how they changed economically and socially due to tobacco and sugar plantations.

During the time frame of 1450-1750, the Columbian Exchange was at its height of power and influence. Many products were introduced from foreign lands, like animals such as cattle, chickens, and horse, and agriculture such as potatoes, bananas, and avocados. Diseases also became widespread and persisted to distant lands where it wreaked devastation upon the non-immunized people. One such influential product during this time period was the cacao, or more commonly known as chocolate. First discovered and used in the Americas, cacao beans quickly traveled to and became a popular treat in European lands. It was valuable in the New World and even used as a currency by the Aztecs. Only the rich and privileged

One of the most interesting questions to ponder: is can a link be drawn directly to show the causation of why and when countries adopted customs or habits that are now fundamental in the present day. With secondary sources, these correlations can be shown and provide statistics as proof, based upon analysis of important primary sources. The journal article The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food and Ideas is a secondary source detailing what occurred in the years after the voyage of Columbus and how both the New World and the Old World were affected during this period of colonization. An interesting perspective was given in this paper, unlike many others that describe the same topic, in which the authors chose to focus on how the Old World was affected more so than what transpired in the areas being colonized. There was an extravagant biological exchange of both crops and disease, which provided serious lifestyle changes for both Europeans and the native people of the Americas, and there were also consequences elsewhere in the world associated with the Columbus exchange in the years after its commencement. Secondary sources are also very important to historians and this is a source that is very well written, backed up by diagrams and detailed evidence found in primary sources.

21. In their attempt to control the spice trade in the Indian Ocean, the Europeans during the period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries

With the ever emerging civilizations in numerous parts of the world, food aided in linking them together. Food-trade routes acted as inter-boundary communication networks that improved not just commercial exchange but religious and cultural exchange as well. Spice routes that spanned the ancient world resulted in cross cultural fertilization in fields which were very diverse, similar then to the fields of architecture, religion and science. The first geographers began to take interest in people and customs from far away places and put together the first efforts at world maps. But by far the biggest change caused by food trade was as a result of the European need to avoid the Arab spice domination. The result of this was the revelation of a new world, the establishment of first colonial outposts by the European nations and the opening of maritime trade routes

In many ways, food has been imperative to political and social influences on global human society. In chapters five and seven of An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage, the importance of food and its effect on history is shown throughout the major themes of trading, the idea that food is equal to wealth, and the life-long sustenance that foods provide to people. In Standage’s book, middle-eastern botanists traded the spice of cinnamon, and potatoes were traded and seen as a valued food in all of Europe. Standage proves that food equals wealth when he wrote about the importance of spices across the Middle East. He says that people who owned spices were seen as “luxurious” because they could serve delicacies such as rare spices and could serve more flavorful food. Finally, the sustenance that spices, as well as maize/potatoes, provide is actually very similar to each other. Although spices could be seen as a more “secondary” source of sustenance, the rarity and high demand for spices allowed for trading and receiving nutritious food. On the other hand, maize was very important because almost anyone could grow maize and it could, therefore, be used as a major food supply.

The combination of Mercantilist ideals and joint stock companies fueled intense Colonial competition between European nations, and these competitions decided who stayed in power. One specific nation that was constantly in competition with the English were the Dutch. They fought over similar colonies including those in North America and the Caribbean. In 1652, a Dutch letter wrote about all the money that the Dutch had put into securing an island in the Caribbean, but more importantly how there were “Great swelling words abound, so that the scene is altered and nothing thought of but domineering over England”. All the Dutch thought about were ways to beat England and become more profitable than they were. They know that the country with more

As addictive properties of sugar had exploded the demand for sugar at the start of the 1700’s, the demand called for higher production. The ideal climate in the Caribbean and the abundance of African slaves provided this higher production, transforming the small English sugar trade into the beginning of global commerce. After the discovery of the Caribbean in 1492, the land was colonized and used for its ideal climate to grow cane sugar (Doc. 1, 2, and 6). The cheap land had popped up colonies that started utilizing slaves and other resources to make a highly efficient labor system (Doc. 9, 10, and production facility (Doc. 7-12

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 exploitation and pillage of the West Indies and the Americas, and that of Africa by means of the slave trade, and finally, the discovery by Europeans of the sea route to the Far East and India, led to a rapid growth in world trade by the 16th century. The vital role of India and the Far East in generating the system of British industrial capitalism and capital accumulation in Britain is undeniable. In that role, were great monopolistic chartered trading corporations that emerged in England during 16th and 17th century, such as the Baltic Company and the Levant Company? The greatest of which was the East India Company, which conquered and had rule over India.

Before the age of exploration, spices changed hands many times on their way to Europe-