chapter 14 pt. 2

     The fur trade was a very competitive thing to be apartof. The British and the Dutch were rivals for the fur that was in North America. That being said they didn't actually do the hunting, they would wait for the Indians to bring the furs to the coastal areas or to the established trading posts. This means that the Natives that actually did the hunting, trapping, processing, and transporting benefited. In return they were given valuable trade goods such as firearms, gunpowder and alcohol. This strengthened their relationships with their neighboring peoples. As they made stronger relationships with other people and they secured their role in the fur trade they were better protected from being targeted by the encroaching European colonies. Unfortunately they couldn't have been any better prepared to defend themselves against European disease. Disease, dependence on guns, alcohol and the overall presence of the Europeans decimated the Natives substantially. This resulted in the Native women marrying European traders as that was culturally accepted but they were often abandoned when the men went back to Europe. The fur trade only strengthened the patriarchal dynamic as the women really had no role in the fur process and it was typically a man's job.
      The Atlantic slave trade was a huge network that involved many different areas. The slave trade in America was distinct for a few reasons. One of those reasons being the immense amount of traffic between slaves. The European colonial economies had slaveries almost in the center as they were such a big part of how their societies were ran. Another key point was the fact that the status of the slaves was inherited through generations and was almost never shifted.
       When North America first leaned about sugar cane, they were quick to realize they couldn't do the intense labor that it required but they wanted the sugar as they had previously relied on honey and fruits as sweetener. This is when they brought in African slaves to do this work. The reason they chose African slaves was because they wee easy to come by, they were skilled farmers, they were pretty much immune to European diseases and they were black. In exchange for slaves, African sellers would ask for both European and Indian textiles, beads, cowrie shells, firearms, tobacco, alcohol and European metal goods. The African slaves that were sold ended up mostly in the Caribbean or Brazil. Besides that, they were in smaller numbers , sold to North America, Spanish America and some in Europe.
       Mostly the men were sold as slaves which meant the women were left to take up the intense labor demands in their home country. With the gender ratios being so off, it gave men the option to marry multiple women. But even though it seems like all Africans were hurt in this, the African authorities took advantage of the slave trade for the many commercial opportunities.

chapter 14 pt. 1

     The voyage of the Portuguese mariner Vasco de Gama was not an accident and was the first actual time that Europeans traveled into India. They went there to encounter an ancient and rich network of commerce between Africa and China. The Europeans were aware of the wealth that was available there but they were super ignorant to how everything worked there.
     Many problems stemmed from the pattern of trade coming from the East along the Mediterranean and into the Middle East. This was known as the Indian Ocean network. One of the problems was that the supply fell into the hands of Muslims. The major trading city was in Venice and the Venetians despised the Muslims monopoly on the network. The second problem was the Europeans had to pay in cash meaning in gold or silver for Asian spices and textiles. This meant they had to have a large supply of gold and silver. Portugal targeted the African gold goldfields which was a large help but using gold and silver to pay was very difficult.
     Another obstacle that Europeans ran into was that their trading goods were seen as crude nd unwanted in Asian markets. When Portugal realized this they also started to notice that the typical trading ships in the Indian network weren't well armed or militarized. With this knowledge they went to piracy as it was easy. Having the military advantage let them establish fortified bases in the Indian Ocean. Thee bases were known as the "trading post empire." When they still dominate the trade network they assimilated to ancient ways and carried Asian goods to Asian ports, basically selling their ship service. By 1600, Portugal's trading post empire had radically declined.
     Spain was the first to challenge Portugal's position. Spain's proximity to China, the other small and militarily weak societies, and relatively no competition only fueled Spain. Spanish colonial practice found itself in the Philippines. The Spains took over the Philippines and changes were made. For example, the women who were important in rituals were replaced by Spanish priests. Going into Asian commerce, by the 17th century, military figures had unified Japan politically. Resident communities continued to dominate in China in the growing spice trade even with expanding Europeans power. Again commercial networks continued to be successful even as Europe grew militarily.

chapter 13

    European empires in the Americas were fueled by many things. European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing, and ship making made it easy for them to sail into the possibilities that the Atlantic Ocean held. Besides their many innovations, the European colonies were extremely motivated. The government and growing merchant class wanted to find new routes and opportunities. Specifically, the growing and developing merchant class wanted access to the Asian trade market. 

    Besides these points, the Europeans had the advantage of disease on their side.  Diseases that they had already gained immunity against, the native Americans weren't exposed to yet. The natives died in huge numbers as soon as they came into contact with European and African diseases. The "great dying", which happened with all the spread of diseases opened up room for immigrants as their was a huge labor shortage. Another huge advantage was allies that they gained through divisions of local societies. For example, Aztec were easy to get on their side as they were willing to do anything to break down the Mexica dominance. 

   As Europeans and Africans began colonizing they brought things such as their people, plants, animals, all which were completely revolutionary. As the domestic animals were brought, ranching communities were easy to build up as there weren't any predatory animals threatening them. Unfortunately women lost their role in producing food. The patriarchy was easily established as men took on that role almost automatically as hunters and warriors became so important. Hunting and military positions were only for men, pushing women out of many once important roles. 

     Overall the network of all the communication, trade, disease, plants, and animals by European colonial empires is called the Columbian Exchange. The interaction through the Atlantic Ocean connected four different continents and allowed for these four places to expose each other to good and bad things. The benefits in the long run were extremely unequally distributed though, unfortunately. Obviously we know that the Europeans basically reaped the most long term benefit as they conquered through innovation and brutally kicking people out. Europeans were fueled by a mercantilist ideal and they ran their colonies in that mindset. Mercantilism, being the basic idea of encouraging exports to bring in more money and success for the nation, fueled European wars and colonial rivalries.

intro to part 4 blog

   The beginning of the introduction to Part 4 basically explains how big of a trend globalization is and how it helped to successfully spread things such as religion and disease. It goes on to talk about how many different places slowly became modern societies and grew in population. Basically as population grew, militaries were formed fueling the "gunpowder revolution." Also, as populations and modernization spread, the natural environment started to fall due to the need for more farmland and humans pressure on nature.
   Another big point is the fact that, while the European's present is often talked about a lot they really only had full control of the Americas. In Asia, Japan and China had say over the European missionaries. A common trend everywhere was the patriarchy as gender equality was not taken seriously in any region whatsoever.
   Basically the power struggle was everywhere and there was no group that was obviously in power over all the others as many big societies had a foothold in a ruling position.

Im  done :)