Chapter 14 part one

European and Asian Commerce
The initial cause for the Portuguese going out on their big voyage was because of their desire for cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, clover, and especially pepper. During the 15th century Europe began to grow, some of the biggest cities being started in England, Netherlands, and northern Italy. Europeans were very persistent with obtaining goods. When it came to trading in the Asian market, Europeans  goods were seen as crude and unattractive. When Portuguese arrived to Asia and saw how weak their merchant ships were and they quickly used their superior naval warfare to assert bases all over. Even though Asia was weak by military standards they were much richer in economic standards. Once Portuguese realized their goods were not trading they started becoming heavily involved in transferring of Asian goods to Asian ports.

Spain and Philippines
The Spanish established themselves on the Philippines islands in order to catch up with the race for the riches. These islands had an abundant amount of spices. They soon took over the island using their military and took over completely by 1565.

East Indie Companies
The Dutch and British both established their own trading post empires much better then the Portuguese. The Dutch forcibly over threw two islands that produces spices, killing most of people that inhabited the islands and sold the spices they obtained from those islands for more then fourteen times the price they bought it for in Indonesia. The British were mostly left out of the spice trade because of the monopoly the Dutch had on it. The British also were not able to "trade by warfare" like the Portuguese, instead they worked together with the Mughal empire.

Asians and Asian Commerce
Euro's were not seen as a economic threat or a militant threat to the great powers (Mughal India, China, and Japan). Once Shogun became the power of Japan he expelled all Europeans and saw them and their new ways as a threat.

Silver and Global Commerce
Even bigger then the spice trade was the silver trade. The Chinese authorities created taxes, which a majority of the population had to pay in silver. This began the huge demand for silver. Even though Spain was rich in silver the way they used it was poor. And when silver prices came barreling down, Spain lost its early position of dominance. Japan, much like Spain was rich in silver, but unlike Spain they used silver to boost their economy, which ultimately brought them to a highly commercialized economy by the nineteenth century.

The World Hunt: Fur in Global Commerce
People in Europe wanted fur just as bad as the most popular products like silver, textiles, and spices.
One cause for this was the Ice-Age, with it being colder the demand for warmth grew. With fur being used in Europe it rose the standard of living and helped build many communities by trading fur for goods they could use.