Week Two

In this weeks reading I found it interesting how the Spanish came to the Americas and enslaved the people Native to the land. The Natives were used for labor, but they eventually started dying off due to disease they had never encountered before. Central Mexico's population decreased from 10-20 million to about one million by 1650 and in North America about 9 out of every 10 Natives died. In order to replenish their working force, the Spanish began to import another race that was inferior, Africans.

Different groups brought different disease, crops, plants, and animals to the Americas which increased diversity. American crops, such as corn and potatoes, also made their way into the Eastern Hemisphere which increased calories intake for many people. Since people were living healthier lives due to these crops these populations began expanding. Essentially there was a worldwide exchange of people, food, animals and disease.

In the next chapter we learn about the Indian Ocean Commercial Network. Those who were trading along that territory wanted tropical spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace and pepper. Rather than trading the Europeans purchased Asian spices and textiles with cash, gold or silver since they did not have many valuables to trade. Once the Chinese abandoned the Indian Ocean Trade ships began to be pirated since there was no longer a major power. This allowed the Portuguese to create the "Trading POSt Empire" in the Indian Ocean which they did not succeed in doing. They began to sell shipping series to Asian ports but eventually they just settled in different Asian and African ports.

Spain challenged Portugal by establishing themselves in the Philippines, so they could grow and exploit the spice island. Spanish affect was not a pleasant one, they converted everyone into Catholicism, made them pay taxes and created unpaid labor. This ended up killing about 20 thousand people on the island, almost the entire Chinese population.

Later on the Dutch and English entered the Indian Ocean Trade. Since they were militarily and economically sound they were able to over throw Portugal, and started up private trading companies. The Dutch settled in Indonesia where they seized control of small-producing islands and limited their trade and sales only to the Dutch. British on the other hand focused on the cotton textiles in India, since they could not seem to get spices.

Eventually the Japanese won civil wards and thought european ideas were a threat to their culture sine they tried imposing their religion on them, so they were vanished. However, they kept trade with the Dutch since they were not imposing their religion or ideas.

Silver demand grew higher at the time, so mining in Bolivia only increased. Like any other currency when there is too much of it the value drops which occurred in the 17th century which meant the Spanish were no longer the wealthiest. That was when the Indian cotton textiles outsold the European good such as wool. The Chinese goods also surpassed those of the Spanish. Once weather began to cool down, furs joined silver, textiles, and spices as major items of global commerce.