European Trade Routes 1100-1500

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

The goals and functions of world trade today vary from when it started. Long distance trading today is a big part of everyday life for us. Most of our products, as you can see, come from China, Japan, Italy and other places across the ocean. Where would we be today if long distance trading wasn’t a part of everyday life? Asia and Europe play a huge part in our lives, and in what we eat, function with, and for children, play with. When long distance trading first started, it wasn’t as important as it is now. Traders mostly supplied goods for the rich who could afford these valuable goods, and afford the long distance accommodations. Supplies like gold, spices, silks, and others were sold to the rich and they were valued depending on weight and distance of the trade. A large part of the exchange economy was local, dealing with crops, and local manufactured products. The only problem with this was that it wasn’t pricey and it didn’t weigh much compared to long distance supplies, which made it difficult to make any profit whatsoever. Sometimes, to help out locals and the upper echelon, goods were traded for other goods instead of money. The most important part of trade was having a market to trade with. If there was no market, there was no business, and if there is no business there was no jobs, and money coming in for locals in that area. (The Worlds History, Spodek, 2001, Ch. 12)

Free market economy, which is still tremendously popular today, as it was when trade first started, is a big part of trade. Free market economy is when traders seek personal benefits by buying supplies an...

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...acteriaceae. It is the infectious agent of bubonic plague, and can also cause pneumonic plague and septicemic plague.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurella_pestis) In 1331 the infection entered China and began to spread, killing enormous amounts of people. This plague wiped out half of China since the Mongols passed through, and because this plague was so horrific, Mongol power weakened as a result of this. Europeans had no immunity toward new diseases, thus wiping out 1/3 of the population that swept across the continent. (The Worlds History, Spodek, 2001, Ch. 12)

When you talk trade, and the foundations of powerful dynasties, you think China. When Marco Polo finally arrived in China in 1275, he described the ruler, Kublai Khan as the mightiest man. China was so advanced with riches, elements, and respect from underlings, that any of these could describe the comments Marco Polo had for Kublai Khan. Still, silk, porcelain, and tea, Chinas greatest products, attracted merchants from all around the world looking to trade.