Silver, Fur & Slaves: Strayer 15

21/12/2014

Wondering if I was here? Well yes. I am. So get to work! I'll tell you right now, every version of this test is a @#&*!

So anyway, this chapter contain two absolutely-you-will-see-this-on-the-exam items, the silver trade and it's impact, and the Atlantic slave trade (slavery part deux, the racist kind).

Hopefully you'll see quickly that this is an economically themed chapter. Remember, it's all about the booty! Yes, of course, slavery is a social issue with repercussions in our own times, but the causation, the motive, is economic.

I'll answer some BPQs, but I'd really like to see more of you take advantage of this thrilling opportunity to interact with me and your fellow Whappers out side of class.

33 Comments

Bingham

21/12/2014 07:22:04

In what specific ways did trade foster change in the world of the early modern era?

It created completely new trade networks across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The slave trade brought large numbers of Africans to the Americas.

It drew the remote peoples of Siberia and North America into global trade networks through the fur trade.

It slowed population growth, disrupted the economy, and sometimes shaped the political system in West Africa.

It was the driving force behind the large-scale slave economy that emerged in the Americas.

It further commercialized the economies of the world, especially that of China, through inflows of silver from South America and Japan.

OR… REGIONAL ORGANIZATION!
WEST AFRICA: slaves to the Americas, slowed population growth (related), disrupted the economy, influenced the types of political systems.
AMERICAS: influx of West Africans, influx of Europeans, connected to the “old world”, slave based economies, new participation in the world economy, became the largest supplier of silver.
CENTRAL ASIA (Siberia): new participation in the world economy.
EAST ASIA: Increased commercialized (look this word up) economies, Japan becomes major supplier of silver.
EUROPE: Well, they got rich, and started to catch up with East Asia and South Asia technologically.

Bingham

28/12/2014 04:57:38

To what extent did Europeans transform earlier patterns of commerce, and in what ways did they assimilate into those older patterns?

Europeans for the first time operated on a global scale, creating new trade networks across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They also facilitated the full integration of fur-supplying regions into wider trade networks. But in other ways, Europeans did assimilate (you should look up the definition of this word) older patterns, as in the Indian Ocean, where they wanted to dominate previously established trade routes, and they continued to trade many of the same products.

Bingham

28/12/2014 06:06:47

Describe and account for the differing outcomes of European expansion in the Americas (see Chapter 14), Africa, and Asia. Note how in a thematically organized chapter, our other dimension - region – proves to be a useful organizational tool. This is analogous to using SPICE themes to make sense of a region. Understanding this interplay of region and theme is a key skill in the ‘ole “answering the question” issue.
In the Americas, Europeans conquered the region politically and dominated it economically. The primary reasons for this was the devastation caused to Native American populations by European diseases and the technological advantages that Europeans possessed when they arrived; Guns, Germs, & Steel once again!

In Africa, Europeans established much stronger trade relationships and set up several trading posts on the east coast of Africa. However, they made no effort to conquer large territories, mostly because the most attractive regions for European conquest, such as West Africa, possessed too many deadly tropical diseases against which Europeans had little immunity. Oh disease, you are so important and underappreciated in world history!

In Asia, Europeans (aside from the Spanish, who succeeded in establishing a colonial state in the Philippines) sought to found trading post empires, with mixed success. The Dutch were able to dominate several Spice Islands, and both the British and the Portuguese were able to set up fortified trading posts along the Indian Ocean coast. But none of these powers ever tried to conquer large territories, and in some cases, such as in Japan, the Europeans were only able to trade under conditions set by the local authorities. These developments show that, while the Spanish and Dutch were able to dominate relatively small regions, the larger established civilizations of Asia were too powerful for the Europeans to hope to rule, and in any case the great distances between Asia and Europe made such a colonial empire impractical, that is until drones were invented!

Bingham

28/12/2014 06:50:59

How should we distribute the moral responsibility for the Atlantic slave trade? Is this a task appropriate for historians? Okay, step back kids, this kind of question is best left for epistemologically trained adults.

This is obviously a question intended to encourage your thought, without a simple or clear-cut answer. It is evident that Europeans played an important role both in stimulating the slave trade and in developing a slave system that was unusually dehumanizing, degrading, and dangerous for those forced to participate as slaves. It is also clear that some Africans willingly participated in the trade, capturing and selling slaves to the Europeans. Whether assessing moral responsibility or blame is a task appropriate for historians is debatable. One could reasonably make a case for or against this idea.

I encourage you to think about historical context, rather than judging by the standards of our own era – a form of presentism. Much of what I want you to take away from this class is the intellectual maturity to not think in all-or-nothing terms, such as assertions that all Europeans were (and are) morally guilty for the slave trade, when the vast majority of Europeans had nothing to do with it. Similarly, you should recognize that the fact that some African rulers and individuals participated in the slave trade does not imply moral guilt for all. History, and life, are full of these swirling boundaries, and the educated mind learns to think in these uncertain places. This is the danger of social media in which positions are taken not on the basis of evidence based probabilities, but on opinion. That is the very definition of ignorance.

Bingham

28/12/2014 07:13:47

What lasting legacies of early modern globalization are evident in the early twenty-first century? Pay particular attention to the legacies of the slave trade.

the Atlantic trading network
the Pacific trading network between the Americas and East Asia
the influence of European civilizations, especially in the Americas and the Philippines
the engagement of even remote peoples, such as those of Siberia, in world trade networks
the large populations in the Americas of peoples of African and European origins;
African cultural influences in the Americas
ideas of race, particularly of “blackness”
the demographic and economic legacy of the slave trade in West Africa
BAM!
Okay, I’m done, I’ve been generous here. I’ll answer questions, but you do what needs to be done. I’ll be slapping a reading check in front of you the first time I see you after the break.

Allie Elkhadem

2/1/2015 08:20:31

I've been struggling with margin question #2( To what extent did the Portuguese realize their own goals in the Indian Ocean?). I understand that the Portuguese failed attempt at creating a trade post empire and that the Portuguese decided to assimilate should be mentioned in the answer. How do you answer a "to what extent" question?

Bingham

2/1/2015 09:51:27

Hi Allie! Yes, "to what extent" is tricky. Think of these as asking you to place your answer on a scale, on one end is "not at all", and the other end is "completely." But it's always in between, or they would ask the question.

So, I'd go with something like...
Their original goal of creating a trading post empire that controlled the commerce of the Indian Ocean was at best only *partially realized*. They never succeeded in controlling much more than half the spice trade to Europe, and by 1600, their trading post empire was in steep decline.

Olivia Cardenas

3/1/2015 03:29:37

On pg 444 in the yellow book, Strayer discusses the impact of silver on the economies of Japan and China.

He explains that Japanese authorities tried to protect the forests and then states the ways people tried to have fewer children. Are these things related? Were people trying to have less kids because of dwindling forests or is strayer just telling us two separate things?

And then Strayer states while talking about china that "areas that devoted themselves to growing mulberry trees, on which silkworms fed, had to buy their rice from other regions." He goes onto state that China then became more regionalized. I don't understand his example. How does this lead to being more regionalized?

Bingham

3/1/2015 04:32:13

Hi Olivia!

Well, as for the Japan thing, do you see that environmentalism and demographic awareness are related? It's common sense today, that you can only expect the land to support a finite number of people; but not no much in the Early Modern Era. Most peoples saw the world as an unlimited space. There are two theories about this Japanese awareness, and as with most theories, the truth is likely some combination. On the one hand, Japan is after all, an island. By this period, it seems likely that the Japanese would have been well aware of the limitations of their space, with no contiguous space to plot about grabbing. On the other hand, there does seem to be a strong collectivist mentality in Japanese culture that sees the success of the individual inextricably linked to the success of the society as a whole. I think Strayer is just making us aware of these twin facets of the Japanese psyche, especially as they will play a major historical role later.

The China example illustrated the commercialization of the Chinese economy. Various regions are specializing in the production of various goods to exchange in the market (market in the broad theoretical sense) for currency. This currency is in turn used to buy other goods (some quite necessary as with rice). So this specialization of production led to increasing variations in the nature of Chinese regions. Instead of a monolithic, homogeneous China, in the Ming and Ching periods we increasingly see regional variations due to differing characteristics based on this specialization.

Hope this helped.

Olivia C

3/1/2015 13:17:21

This helped a lot. Thank you

Isabella Jarosz

4/1/2015 05:20:35

Here's my answer for MQ1. As always, suggestions are always welcome.What drove European involvement in the world of Asian commerce?
− desire for Asian goods, such as spices (i.e., cinnamon, nutmeg), Chinese silk, Indian cotton
o as condiments, preservatives, aprodisiacs
− general recovery of European civilization post-Black Death
o new centers of international commerce arose, giving birth to a more capitalist economy based on market exchange, private ownership, and the accumulation of capital for further investment
− City of Venice largely monopolized the European trade in Eastern goods -> Venetians resented Muslim monopoly on Indian ocean trade -> other European powers disliked relying on Venice as well as Muslims
− mysterious Christian monarch Prester John
o rumored to rule in Asia/Africa
o wanted to join with his mythical kingdom to continue the Crusades
o combat a common Islamic enemy
− paying for Eastern goods
o European goods were not appealing to Eastern powers, thus, Europeans often had to pay in cash (gold or silver)
o this led to the intense desire of precious metals

Isabella Jarosz

4/1/2015 07:11:28

I had a question about MQ3 (How did Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and British initiatives in Asia differ from one another?). Would you answer this question with categories? If so, how would you categorize it? I'm having difficulty organizing it in such a way.

Bingham

4/1/2015 08:17:28

I'm glad to see you're active on the forum!
I see your problem with categories here, but I think you're suffering from the 'ole "read the question" problem. In this instance, your categories lie with in the question, specifically, the word "initiatives". So you need to process your way through that idea: what is meant by "initiatives". I'm thinking goals, projects, methods of action, like that. So look at what each sought to do; trading post empire; colonial rule; private trading companies, etc. Then describe how those developed and turned out.

Doe that help?

Isabella Jarosz

5/1/2015 06:50:49

Yes! Thank you

Savanna Lim

5/1/2015 00:56:06

MQ 6: describe the impact of the fur trade on north american native societies:

GOOD
-not directly forced to work like slaves would be; "protected" them
-were given new technology by the europeans
-they were actually traded things of real value that helped their relationship with neighbouring people, strengthened leadership authority, and provided them with gifts to give out 2 their homies

BAD
-DISEASE!!
-intense competition among native people
-caught in between the french/brit rivalry
-lost culture and customs due to reliance on the european tools and technology when they stopped making stuff on their own
-introduction of alcohol introduced binge drinking, violence among men, etc.
-many populations of animals with fur pelts almost went extinct, like the beavers and deers!!

overall: though fur was one of the major items of global commerce and was in high demand during this time, which provided economic incentives, its environmental, cultural, and social impact on native american societies was more detrimental than beneficial.

Savanna Lim

5/1/2015 01:09:56

MQ5: what was the world historical importance of the silver trade?

-gave birth to a genuinely GLOBAL network of exchange
-provided first direct & sustained link between asia & americas
-it was especially important in china, who at the time decided to collect taxes in the form of silver. Since the demand for silver went up, the supply of chinese goods like silk and porcelain was more available to the europeans than ever before because they were the ones who had the silver
- the spanish silver coin was used on 4 continents
- the demand for silver also encouraged the formation of land mines, where people were brutally worked and were exposed to horrific conditions, but it was ok because they were producing silver for the europeans!
-enriched the spanish crown and made it very,very rich.
-the silver trade also indirectly led to the 10th century industrial rev. in Japan. the shoguns used silver-generated profits to unify the country, ally with their merchant class, invest in agriculture and industrial enterprise, which led to saving their forests, having less children, which later on led to the easing of an impending ecological crisis, and a highly commercialized economy
- It also indirectly allowed China to become more economically specialized. since people had to find a way to obtain silver to pay their taxes, they had to provide a wider variety of goods for the market that people would want.

Bingham

5/1/2015 06:35:16

Thanks for two great answers.

Allie Elkhadem

5/1/2015 06:27:02

Here's my mind map!

https://cacoo.com/diagrams/4rTH2zAGNWCzqnMP

https://cacoo.com/diagrams/4rTH2zAGNWCzqnMP-3973D.png

Bingham

5/1/2015 06:35:39

I love these!

Bingham

5/1/2015 07:13:51

Consider this Allie: Your organization follows Strayer's headings. Your only creativity comes in the area of what and how to put things at the lowest level, below the last bubble. So in that sense, you are really creating an outline. That's fine, but it doesn't capture the power of a mind map.

Look at what you've done for 15 and think about other ways to organize the lowest level of information. In other words, play with the mind map. How could the same stuff be presented in a different organizational scheme? Make new bubbles and move stuff around. Consider the margin questions as you do this. I think doing this will get you to that last breakthrough you are looking for.

Allie Elkhadem

5/1/2015 08:10:30

Thanks for the advice Mr. Bingham! I will keep trying new things with the mind maps

Allie Elkhadem

5/1/2015 08:04:25

Here is my answer to Margin question #4 (To what extent did the British & Dutch trading companies change the societies they encountered in Asia?)

1) The Dutch greatly changed the societies they encountered. With much bloodshed, the Dutch took over a few spice-producing islands. With these islands the Dutch controlled the production and transportation of spices. The Dutch left the native people impoverished and with a destroyed economy.
2) The British trading company was less devastating to India. The British, with Mughal approval, set up trading bases. The British mostly exported textiles; villages began to specialize in textiles for the British market.

Tell me if I'm missing anything.

Bingham

5/1/2015 10:03:54

I think you should mention the genocide on banda Island, and the shift from self sufficient Indian agriculture to cash crop agriculture. This will lead to many issues later including a horrible famine in the late 19th century.

Savanna Lim

6/1/2015 14:38:14

MQ 9: What explains the rise of the Atlantic slave trade:?

-SUGAR!!! Europeans wanted it and established plantations
-These plantations did not provide desirable jobs and included awful working conditions and danger, so it was hard to find workers
-Slavic people were no longer available to be used as slaves when the Turks took over
-Portugese mariners were exploring West africa and found some slaves available for sale
- There were no more native Americans available for slave labour because they all died from European disease
-European Christians were exempt from slavery because they were christian
-European servants were expensive
-Africans also had immune systems that could handle both tropical and European diseases
-Which meant that the Africans were the only ones left
-The already belittling view of "black-ness" made conquering and enslaving them "somewhat okay"

Bethany V.

7/1/2015 12:26:46

M?3 attempt: How did Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and British initiatives in Asia differ from one another? This is my answer to part of the question. I just saw Mr. Binghams post about this question above and I haven't really tackled development or outcome yet so feel free to add! Input is very welcome, this is a first attempt.

Methods of accessing trade:

Dutch: Joint stock company, trading post empire
English: Joint stock company (the book says the English established a trading post empire, but I thought one of the requirements for a trading post empire was for the area to have been obtained by force, which isn't how the English established trading bases. Could someone explain that to me please?)
Spanish: Colonial Rule
Portuguese: Trading Post Empire

Method of establishing access to trade:

Dutch- violence
: forced Indonesians to sell only to the Dutch, destroying the crops of those who refused
: Banda Islands genocide

Spain: relatively bloodless
-small scale military operations
-local alliances
-gifts to chiefs

Portuguese: violence
-forcibly obtained bases from small and weak states
: burned and sacked Mombasa

English: peaceful negotiation
-made agreements with local rulers or Mughal authorities for permission to create trading bases
-bribed and payed local rules or Mughal authorities for this permission

Also, can a grouping about religious initiative be made? I don't think the Dutch had any religious initiative in Asia because we talked in class yesterday about how religiously tolerant they were (and they just seemed to be more preoccupied with killing than converting haha). I know Strayer talks about the whole Prester John deal being an incentive for European expansion, but once the Europeans had expanded into Asia was anyone besides Spain really trying to proselytize?

Bethany

7/1/2015 12:47:52

I mean I know the main initiatives taking place were commercial, I was just curious if there was really any religious initiative at all beyond Spain.

Seokhyun

7/1/2015 15:29:07

The Religious initiative does mostly go to Spain, but there was the fact that before the Portuguese got around Africa, Indian Ocean goods went through Muslim hands in the Islamic world until it reached the Venetians, who had a monopoly on the flow of Asian goods coming from that end. Because it was the Muslims who had full control over the flow of Asian goods into Europe (before the Venetians), it gave a quasi-religious reason for the Portuguese to go sailing around Africa in the name of Jesus so they could 1up the Muslims by getting Asian goods in the Indian Ocean without having to accept a Muslim Monopoly. So I guess that's also a religious initiative.

Seokhyun

7/1/2015 18:45:47

also, a trading post empire is simply the tactic of controlling commerce over land. Land is of marginal value, whether it be small strips of land taken over by the Dutch or rented out by the British, so land doesn't have to be acquired by force in a Trader Joe's Empire.

Seok

7/1/2015 18:46:51

*Trading Post.

My tablet hates me. (and it worked in the 1st sentence...)

Bethany

7/1/2015 13:51:40

MQ7: How did the North American and Siberian fur trades differ from each other and why? What did they have in common?

Similarities:

-the fur trade brought disease to both peoples, though the impact of disease was more catastrophic in the Americas due to a complete lack of contact with Eurasian diseases.

-the fur trade resulted in both peoples becoming dependent on European goods.

-in both places the fur trade depleted the local wildlife

-the fur trade in both places was driven by the demand of a global market.

Differences:

-The Europeans traded with Native Americans for furs, while in Siberia Russians acquired fur through a tax.

-There was a large presence of Russian hunters and trappers who competed with the Siberians to provide fur to the Russians. This type of competition didn't exist for the Native Americans.

I didn't talk about why these differences occurred like is asked for in the question. I have a few possible ideas, but does anyone else have any? I'm not the most confident in mine.

Seokhyun

7/1/2015 14:04:01

Hey,
I think a few things are somewhat lacking in the Differences section. I'd add that Native Americans were knocked to their knees by the devastation caused by Alcohol, like the Mourning wars and 50% of the Huron Population that died. There's also the fact that Native Americans were dragged into Imperial wars between the French and British, also something that never happened in Siberia. Also: Siberia is colder than N. America.

Bethany

7/1/2015 14:25:30

Thanks I'll add those to my answer!

What differences can you identify in the operation and impact of the spice, silver, and fur trades. link

22/2/2018 22:07:47

What differences can you identify in the operation and impact of the spice, silver, and fur trades.

Silver, Fur & Slaves: Strayer 15

Leave a Reply.

Bingham

Archives

Categories