Chapter 15: Commerce Goes Global

The centuries from 1450 to 1750 saw a tremendous boom in the globalization of numerous trade endeavors between many countries. Far from being a golden era of achievement, however, it became a time when more developed nations used their might to exploit those they encountered who were not as strong. The Portuguese and the Spanish strove to obtain vast amounts of riches from the East. The Spanish ended up invading the Philippines in this vain, and it paid off (for the Spanish, not so much for the natives) by proving to be a major destination for all the Silver that Spain had managed to round up from around the world. It was this drive for the acquisition of silver, along with the spice trade that really encouraged this globalization of trade. It was during this time that Chinese goods also began to be traded with increasing frequency, even at one point causing the French to pass legislation to deter it's citizens from using fabric made in China (it is interesting to see that even then, France was big on protecting the rights of it's work-force). However, other peoples did not find their rights protected as they found themselves being treated as a commodity in the developing slave-trade. The Atlantic slave trade in particular, which "took an estimated 11 million people from African societies, shipped them across the Atlantic...[and] deposited them in the Americas, where they lived out their often brief lives as slaves" is truly a dark blemish on the history of the world and of this nation.