HIST1083 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: East India Company, Mercantilism, Pagan Kingdom
Lecture 10.11.16 Africa in the World (1500-1700)
• Terms:
• Trade routes
o Money to be made in trade
o Long distance, hardship
o Thousands of years old→outlived empires, disease, everything
o Rapid increase in volume→did’t iet trade, ut trade eae so large that these
routes had to be developed
o Silver, slaves, sugar, spices, furs, weapons
• Global Trade Routes
o Polycentric→you have to go to specific ports before you go to the next
o Silk Road, Indian Ocean, Europe, Africa, Americas
o Empire-led (British East India Trading Company)
▪ Large conglomerates that control trade
▪ Mercantilist approach to trade→manufacture items in hub and then sending
them out for trade
o Port cities
▪ Lots of diversity in these cities→very tolerant, cosmopolitan
o Technology favored sea travel
• Silver Boom
o Americas center of silver supply after 1500
o Potosi mine
▪ Huge mine in modern day Peru→made Spain rich
o Greased wheels of global trade
o Benefited Spain and China
o Undermined Spain and China
▪ Spain: Inflow of silver led to inflation, led to them spending more (on army,
defense, etc.)
▪ China: inflow led to inflation, other European countries eventually got fed up
and forced China to trade with them to get some silver back
• African Routes
o North: Gold, Salt, and Salves
o South: Gold and Ivory
o Central: Gold and Slaves
o In Middle East area→Islam – ould’t eslae a fello Musli→got non-Muslims form
Africa
• Major African Kingdoms
o Songhai Empire (north west)→key to development of slave, gold, and silver trade
o Kongo
o Ethiopia
o Muwanamutapa
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