The West and the world

-Europe enter to America and redefined the nature of international trade.-The level of trade decrease in civilizations ( Asia , Europe) and affect older political and cultural traditions.

1. Introduction ;

2. The west first Outreach: Maritime Power;

- They wanted to have other routes for trading and not to trade across the Atlantic Ocean. -

The West and the world

-Europe enter to America and redefined the nature of international trade.-The level of trade decrease in civilizations ( Asia , Europe) and affect older political and cultural traditions.

1. Introduction ;

2. The west first Outreach: Maritime Power;

- They wanted to have other routes for trading and not to trade across the Atlantic Ocean. -

C. Portugal and Spain Lead the Pack

Portuguese sailors succeeded in sailing around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa's southern tip. Vasco da Gama was the first Portuguese captain to successfully reach India in 1498.

To protect their commercial interests, the Portuguese constructed a series of forts along the Atlantic coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean coast of India.

D.Northern European Expeditions

Utilizing lighter and faster vessels, the northern European nations concentrated on lands in the Americas north of the Spanish and Portuguese claims.

The Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company received monopolies from their respective governments, but financed their activities from privately raised capital.

III. Toward a World Economy

a. Europe's entry into the Atlantic and Pacific created an international exchange of goods, created a new world-wide economy including the Americas.

b. The "Colombian Exchange" of Disease and Food

The indigenous peoples of these regions suffered massive population loss over a period of a century and a half.

European and Asian animals were introduced into the Americas, which had previously lacked animal power.

C. The West's Commercial Outreach

Dominance at sea was the result of military and technological advances that made European navies more powerful than the fleets of other civilizations.

European merchants entered local trade networks through the establishment of enclaves in cities. This pattern was evident in the Ottoman Empire, Japan, and Russia.

D.Imbalances in World trade

Relations with colonies were affected by the policies of mercantilism, which were crafted to benefit the colonizers.

These regions produced commercial crops sugar, spices, tobacco, cotton, and slaves in return for the manufactured products of Europe.

e. A System of International Inequality

Even in dependent areas, however, some were able to take advantage of local trade to grow rich. Some areas of the Americas and Africa managed to remain outside the world trade system for centuries.

Both in the mines and plantation economies of the Americas, coercive labor systems were common.

F. How Much World in the World Economy?

China simply ignored European trade in favor of continuation of its traditional reliance on an internal system of exchange.

From the seventeenth until the nineteenth century, Japan's rulers maintained isolation except for the single Dutch enclave near Nagasaki.

g. The Expansionist Trend

Both the British and French East India Companies regarded India as suitable for incorporation as a dependent region and a producer of cotton.

Britain passed tariffs to prohibit the importation of Indian cotton cloth and suppress the development of manufacturing in South Asia.

IV. Colonial Expansion

a. Introduction

The Western control of the seas permitted Europeans to achieve dominance over a variety of cultures and peoples.

B. The Americas: Loosely Controlled Colonies

Portugal's colonial expansion in Brazil proceeded at a slower pace until the wealth of the interior became more readily apparent.

France, Britain, and Holland established colonies in North America somewhat after the foundation of settlements in Central and South America.

c. British and French North America: Backwater Colonies

European nations were less interested in Atlantic colonies because they had less raw materials than the plantation colonies. The southern British of the coast developed plantation economies while the north American colonies were less economic.

With less intervention of the mother countries the Atlantic colonies made their own merchant class and engaged international trade, and British attempts that were late contributed to rebellion.

Lot of settlement led to almost total elimination of the indigenous populations of the Atlantic colonies, European immigration produced Indian emigration to plains.

American households were child-centered cause dependence on young laborers. While the frontiers moved westward, house hold formation and family patterns approximated to European norms. After rebellion in 1776 colonists couched resistance in European political theories.

The American colonies of the Atlantic coast developed representative institutions. Economic equality was better in the colonies than in Europe and there was no aristocracy. More population, independence from mother countries and sense of identity contributed to the rebellion in 1776.

E. Africa and Asia: Coastal trading Stations

Most of the European colonization of Africa was limited to coastal fortification. Dutch settlers from the trade station created the Cape Colony, their expansion brought them into conflict with indigenous people such as the Bantus. Climate and disease caused Europeans to limit with Africa until the nineteenth century.

Britain and France began to control trade with India. The French and British east India companies construct trade forts along the coast of the subcontinent.

Outright war between the military of the two companies broke out during the war. The British emerged as winners and expelled the French from India. The British Government took over the administration of India from the East India Company. Economically, India was drawn into the world trade system. Manufacturing centers were discriminated in order to reduce India to economic dependency.

Impact on western Europe

European nations fought many wars over colonial possessions. Colonial production of sugar permitted its use to become widespread among all classes in Europe. In Africa and Asia, Western colonial penetration affected civilizations, but did not transform it in a type of europe.