A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 21 Exploration and Trade in Far Away

Before the 14th century, there were frequent contacts between some cultural regions in the world.But throughout the early days, peoples of other distant lands were unknown.The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans knew little about China or Japan, and nothing about America.The ancient Chinese had only the vaguest understanding of the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians.For ancient Americans, however, the Old World did not exist at all.

WHY EUROPE DISCOVERED THE WORLD In modern times, it is a fact worth noting that every region of the world interacts closely with each other.The way and deeds of this close communication are wonderful.

But why did Europeans go to explore and discover?Why was most of the modern world Europeanized rather than Asianized?These big questions are not easy to answer precisely and thoroughly.But we venture to put forward two main reasons why Europe went to distant places for exploration and discovery: economic necessity and religious zeal.

Economic needs The world was discovered by Europeans because they were merchants, merchants who satisfied economic needs, and because the needs were considerable.They need the parts of the world more than the parts of the world need them.

As someone once said, "Europe is hungry".This sentence is true in various senses.Many young people yearn for adventure.A small group of kings yearned for conquest.In the densely populated parts of Europe, millions of people yearn for land and possessions.Just as this motive drove barbarian peoples to Europe centuries ago, so it now drives men to leave Europe to discover new worlds.

In addition to a strong desire for exploration, ambition for conquest, and a need for land and food, wealthy people also had an ever-increasing need for comfort and luxuries.Many of these items can be obtained through trade with Africa and Asia.The Crusades did not reduce trade, but increased it.Venice and Genoa became rich in trade between East and West.But then the Turks occupied the Near East, and merchants could not go to Asia by the old way, so they began to look for new ways and at the same time look for new sources of supply.

The fervent religion of Christian missionaries dominated Europe, and Christianity was (and still is) one of the most popular preached religions in the world.At the end of the Middle Ages, Christian missionaries had traveled all over Europe and gradually turned to Asia.This is precisely the time when businessmen also want to find new ways.In the end, the merchants left Europe with the missionaries and traveled together to the farthest parts of the world.

[-]. Missionaries and businessmen in the Far East

Direct exchanges between Europe and Central Asia and East Asia began in the 13th and 14th centuries.At this time, the Mongols, under Genghis Khan and his successors, were expanding outward from Central Asia, creating a vast empire.Prominent Christians at the time, including the Pope and King Louis IX, foresaw that if the Mongols converted to Christianity, they would be the most valuable allies of the Crusaders against the Muslims, and a method of spreading Christianity to other regions .

Finally, in 1245, a Franciscan monk named John Berenger was sent on a long journey, passing through Poland and Russia, and traveled another 3000 miles to the capital of the Great Khan of Mongolia.John's visit to the Great Khan was not very successful, but he returned two years later and wrote detailed notes of his travels and observations.Not long afterward, another Franciscan monk named William Rubrook was sent on the same mission.William went north from Constantinople, then went east around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and lived with the Mongolian Khan for half a year, but he failed to achieve his main goal.But the books he wrote were informative, popular, and helpful in arousing European interest in distant and unfamiliar parts of Asia.

The Polo brothers, John and William, two Franciscan monks, had heard a lot about China, but the first Europeans to visit and visit China were Venetian merchants.Two brothers, surnamed Polo, found their way to China around 1260 and came to the court of Kublai Khan.We must remember that the Mongols unified China, and Kublai Khan ascended to the throne of God and established the capital of Yuan Dynasty, which is today's Beijing city.He supported and facilitated arts and learning, expressed tolerance for every religion, and encouraged China's commerce with the outside world.Therefore, when the Polo brothers came to Beijing, Kublai Khan warmly welcomed them, listened patiently to their stories about Europe, and entrusted them to invite 100 Christian missionaries to China.

The Polo brothers returned to Venice in 1269 via northern Persia and Armenia.

Brothers Marco Polo and Polo did not succeed in inviting 100 Christian missionaries to China, but they themselves developed a strong interest in the Far East, so they went to China for a second trip not long after. Fucked the son of one and the nephew of the other, the young Marco Polo.Marco Polo became the most famous traveler of the Middle Ages.

They traveled for four years, passing through Armenia and Persia, and across the Gobi Desert.Later, they stayed in China for 17 years, learning the local language and serving Kublai Khan.

The young Marco Polo won the Khan's special favor with his intelligence.The khan assigned him many official and secret missions.In this way he acquired a great deal of knowledge not only about China, but also about neighboring peoples.He bid farewell to Kublai Khan in 1292 and left China by ship.After stopping at the Spice Islands and southern India, they sailed up to the Persian Gulf, from where they traveled overland to the Mediterranean, returning to Venice in 1295.

Not long after Marco Polo returned, he joined the war between Venice and Genoa.The Genoese captured him.During his one-year imprisonment he wrote about what he saw and heard in the Far East.His books became the most valuable records.Afterwards, many Europeans, including Christopher Columbus, took endless interest in reading this book.

Businessmen and missionaries in China Following their footsteps, a large number of European businessmen and missionaries found their way to China. Some of them passed through Russia and Mongolia by land, and others bypassed India and Indochina from Persia by sea. For a while in the first half of the 14th century, it seemed that the Far East was also Christianized.But in the second half of the 14th century, a Buddhist revolution broke out in China, and finally the Ming Dynasty took power.The Buddhist Ming dynasty ruled China for nearly three centuries and wiped out Christianity.

The temptation of Khitan in the distance But Europe has not abandoned everything, illusions and hopes still exist.The Europeans called China Khitan at that time, and what they knew about Khitan and the Indies was still fresh in their memory.What they had achieved fueled their ambitions.They still expected to win followers for their faith, and also to capture for themselves a major portion of the lucrative Far East trade profits.If they could no longer safely travel the old land routes, they had to find new water routes to the Indies and Khitan.

[-]. Prince Henry and Vasco da Gama
Of course, the possibility of a new waterway was brought up by the Portuguese.They lived in the southwestern corner of Europe and had traveled far along the winding coast of Africa.Why don't they keep going?Perhaps go a little further, and the coast will turn eastward, and the road to the Indies and Khitan will open.They knew Africa was vast and full of dangers, but they had always dreamed of sailing around it.

Prince Henry the navigator realized this dream, and it was the lifelong ideal of the capable Prince Henry of the Portuguese royal family.Often called Henry the Navigator, he was born in 1394 and died in 1460.Although he never actually sailed a ship himself, he helped his countrymen conquer the seas and win a portion of world trade.First of all, he established a nautical school in Portugal, attracting the Italian navigators and the most knowledgeable geographers who were the best at navigating at that time to come to this school, and the school sends out sea expeditions including warriors, merchants and missionaries every year Team.They rediscovered Madeira and the Azores and established colonies as they traveled farther and farther along the unexplored coast of the Black Continent.The maps at that time only drew to the edge of darkness, but the compass of the navigators guided them day and night.

Dias and the Black Continent In fact, the Black Continent is much bigger than Prince Henry imagined.At the time of his death in 1460, the Portuguese had only traveled about half of its west coast.In that place they felt they had found a passage to the East.They traveled east for many miles under the huge shoulders of Guinea and collided with the mountains of Cameroon.But the voyage continued.

In 1488, a heroic captain, Bartolomeo Dias, came to the southernmost tip of Africa, which he called "Cape Storm".But when he came back to report the discovery, the King of Portugal said that it should be called the "Cape of Good Hope" because they had a good hope to reach India at present, and it has been called the Cape of Good Hope since then.

King Vasco da Gama's optimism proved to be correct, because nine years later, in 1497, another Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, and then in the east of Africa. Shore groped his way up to Malindi, where he found an Arabian navigator to guide him across the Indian Ocean to India.When he landed at Calicut (not Calcutta) in India, Vasco da Gama erected a marble pillar as a memorial to his discovery of a new road from Europe to the East. When he returned to Lisbon in 1499, the total value of the oriental goods he brought back was 60 times the cost of his expedition.

After Da Gama discovered the results, Portuguese ships often sailed eastward via the Cape of Good Hope, and returned loaded with valuables such as spices, silk, and jewelry.Christian missionaries also traveled with the merchants, and they preached where the merchants traded, especially in the town of Goa, north of Calicut.

Portuguese merchants occupied Ceylon, Sumatra, Java and the Spice Islands.They came to Guangzhou, China in 1517 and Japan in 1542.An able missionary, Francis Havel, taught in India and Japan.By 1600, there were more than 20 Christians in Japan, and even more in India.These advances in Christianity were short-lived, and Portugal's commercial dominance did not last long.Despite this, from the 15th century to the present, the communication between Europe and the Far East has been direct and continuous.

[-]. Columbus, Cabot and Magellan
The Vikings of Vinland In the 10th and 11th centuries, Scandinavian Vikings sailed west, established a colony in Greenland, and visited a place they called Vinland.Vinland may have been in North America, but nothing of importance was happening there at the time.Europe was not yet ready to circumnavigate the globe, nor were the printing presses starting to spread the word.The Viking settlement in Vinland soon disappeared, and Europe forgot about Vinland.Almost 500 years later there was an important intercourse between Europe and America, and this intercourse was purely accidental.

Columbus's Project Many learned Europeans in the Middle Ages, like some ancient Greeks, believed that the Earth was round and that the oceans circled Europe and Africa and extended to India, China and the Spice Islands; but no one could have imagined the middle It also straddles the two continents of North and South.

In the 15th century, when Portugal was looking for a new waterway to go to India by bypassing Africa, an Italian navigator in Genoa wanted to cross the ocean and go straight west, which might be able to reach the Far East faster and easier.He is Christopher Columbus.He didn't propose to discover America, because he didn't expect America to exist.He was simply planning to embark on an ocean voyage westward to the Indies.With rare daring and patience, he prepared with long hours of hard work, persuaded others that he was right, and financed his experiments with money, ships, and men.

Isabella's plan and theory of aiding Columbus seemed very reasonable, but it was not easy to put into practice.Small sailing ships at that time were not suitable for ocean voyages.Columbus turned to the king of Portugal, but the king felt it wiser to limit Portuguese efforts to expeditions around Africa.

Columbus turned to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain for help, but at the time they were busy with the Crusade against the Arab countries of Granada, so they didn't care much about Columbus at first.Later, after the capture of Granada, Queen Isabella was persuaded to support the daring expedition through the entreaties of Dominican dervishes interested in Columbus and his theories.Because of her help, Columbus finally set off in August 1492 with three small boats carrying 8 people and a letter of introduction to the Great Khan of Khitan.

The New "Indies" Few explorers had more daring and perseverance than Columbus.Just think about crossing the Atlantic on a ship that is only one-two-hundredth the size of a modern ocean-going ship!

Columbus drove west, week after week.All the people he led lost their confidence and gradually began to resist.A month has passed, and there is still a vast sea in front of their eyes.Columbus, who would not despair, persisted in his ideal until finally, on October 1492, 10, when the spectators shouted "Land, land!" he landed, thanked God, and declared the land Owned by Queen Isabella.

He would be amazed if someone told him that he had discovered a new world.He never imagined that what he landed was only one of the Bahamas Islands, thousands of miles away from India and China.He believed the island he had discovered to be in the East Indies off the coast of Asia; he called the natives "Indians."They have been called Indians ever since.

After Columbus returned to Spain, he reported the Indies he had found to Ferdinand and Isabella.He returned to America three times in 1493, 1498 and 1502, bringing merchants and missionaries, explorers and colonists, and still searching for the Kingdom of Japan, China, the Spice Islands and India.He found none of these places, but he explored the Caribbean, Venezuela, and the coasts of Central America.

Columbus may not have been the first European to cross the Atlantic, but he deserves all the credit for discovering the new continent.For since his first great voyage Europe and America have been closely connected.

The Cabots and sons King Henry VII of England hired John Cabot, another Italian from Genoa, in 1497 to head west.His mission was "to seek and discover all the islands, countries, regions or provinces belonging to godless and unbelievers, hitherto unknown to all Christians".He crossed the Atlantic, from Bristol to Cape Breton Island, and reported that he had also been in the country of the Great Khan.

John Cabot's son, Sebastian Cabot, may have been with his father in 1497, perhaps sailing to North America in 1498.In any case, it was John Cabot's voyage in 1497 that gave England the first claim to the North American continent.Sebastian Cabot's early voyages may have strengthened this proposition.Later, Sebastian Cabot became famous while serving Spain.

Cabral A Portuguese fleet under Cabral's command sailed south along the coast of Africa in 1500, planning to follow the route of Vasco da Gama to India.The wind and current pushed the ship so far west that they approached the coast of South America.The Portuguese landed, called the place Veracruz, and declared it to be Portuguese.The place soon became known as Brazil.

Amerigo was at this time a Florentine Italian, Amerigo Vespucci, who now served Portugal and now Spain, sailed several times, and wrote something about the "New World" Letters in which he claimed to have discovered a "new world".He was probably the first to recognize the place as the New World, and he seems to have been the first to have his story published and widely circulated in Europe.Since he was the first to write and publish the "New World", the new world was named after "Amerigo" and called America.

Magellan rather slowly came to know the astonishing fact that America was not Asia but a new world.Even after the Spanish explorer Balboa passed through the Straits of Panama in 1513 and discovered that there was a vast ocean outside, people still dreamed of being able to sail to China in a few days.This view was not dispelled until Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Spain in 1519, crossed the Atlantic Ocean southwestward, passed through the strait named after himself near the southern tip of South America, and crossed the vast Pacific Ocean.In the Philippine Islands, Magellan was killed by the local natives, but one of his ships managed to bypass Africa and return to Europe.It was the first voyage around the world, and it went down as one of the greatest voyages in all of history.By the middle of the 16th century, the New World had opened up to Europe, establishing in many ways strong ties.

[-]. Communication between Europe and the world
Now that Europe has the world in its hands, what exactly has it done?In other words, what impact did the expansion of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries have on the rest of the world?
Centuries of exploration and discovery brought Europeans to Asia, Africa, and America, with different results in different places.The Americas were soon Europeanized, while Asia and Africa were slowly and superficially affected.

Influence on Asia East Asian countries India, China, Japan and the Malay Archipelago are inhabited by ethnic groups with dense populations and long cultures.They have their own religions and cultures, and their academic disciplines and arts are highly developed.Europeans could trade with them, they could influence them, but they could not replace or completely change their civilization.

The Portuguese in India When the Portuguese first arrived in India in 1498, they saw a vast and densely populated country.The country is being divided among many narrow-minded and quarrelsome rulers.All kinds of competition allowed Portugal to conquer some places.In Goa they formed the capital of the Indian possessions including the west coast of Ceylon.Goa has been beautiful and prosperous for hundreds of years.The Governor General of the King of Portugal was stationed here.In Asia, Portugal's trade, Portugal's navy and army, and Portugal's Christian Missions are all headquartered here.

The Portuguese influenced India in many ways.They introduced the European system of government to the shores they held.They opened up a new and broad door for the direct import of European goods and the convenient export of Indian goods.They attracted many European settlers who lived in towns along the Malabar coast and intermarried with the natives.They expressed tolerance to Hinduism in many ways, and at the same time helped their priests and monks persuade the locals to convert to Christianity.Many of India's native Christians today are descendants of those who converted to Christianity in the 16th century with the support and assistance of the Portuguese.

From 1500 to 1600, the Portuguese activities in India lasted for nearly a century.Portugal is a small country in Europe, but there are many things to do.It not only tried to establish a Christian country in India, but also wanted to monopolize the Far East trade and rule all of Asia and Africa.In the end, it aroused hostility from other Europeans, as well as from the natives.

The Mughals In 1525, a Mongolian Muslim chief named Babel, a descendant of Timur, invaded India, conquered northern India, and established an Arab country, known as the Mughal Empire in history.In name, the country lasted until at least 1857.The rise of the Mughal Empire and the growing influence of Muslims gradually reduced Portugal's possessions and prevented the spread of Christianity.

Some of Babel's heirs are well known.Jahan (1627-1658), as an architect, built the famous Taj Mahal in Agra, which is worth remembering.The mausoleum, built for his beloved wife and himself, is the most beautiful monument in all of India.

Hostile Europeans At the same time as the Mughals invaded, the Portuguese in India had to contend with hostile Dutch, British and French enterprises. In 1600, the British formed the East India Company.They captured Surat on the Malabar coast and Bombay.They founded Madras and, at war with the Mughals from 1686 to 1690, created Calcutta as their capital in their Indian possessions. In 1602, the Dutch formed the East India Company. In the next 50 years, they seized most of Portugal's possessions in India and Ceylon by force. In the 17th century, the French also gained a trading base in India.

The Dutch, British and French in India were all motivated by economic motives.They gained some territory and weakened the Mughal Empire, but their main foothold was in commercial centers.They made little effort to create European colonies, or Europeanize the natives.Trade developed rapidly, and India came more and more under European control, but the life and religion of the local peoples changed little.

Unchanged China The arrival of Europeans had less effect on China than on India.For a long time, China was a very solid and stable empire.Although it included different races and religions, and was disturbed by invasions and civil wars, it was unified, united by a common culture that permeated its parts.The Mongols, Tartars, and all other races began by invading China and ended by being "civilized," that is, by adopting Chinese customs and customs.The development of foreign religions, such as Buddhism and Islam in China, should be determined according to their adaptability to Chinese culture.Buddhism is very adaptable, so it develops very fast.

Europeans in China The rise of the Ming Dynasty in China in 1368 curbed the activities of European merchants and missionaries.Western Europe did not engage with China again until the sixteenth century, when Western Europe had no serious plans to overthrow the Chinese Empire or change its civilization.A Portuguese envoy who came to Canton in 16 was imprisoned.When the Portuguese' plans to establish trading colonies along the coast fell through, they were content to lease the island of Macau near Canton for the use of Portuguese merchants.The English and Dutch gained the right to use the port of Canton in the 1517th century and trade with South China, but their activities were strictly commercial.

Christian missionaries In the second half of the 16th century, Christian missionaries resumed their work in China.Under the leadership of an Italian priest and scholar, Matteo Ricci, they made marked progress.Matteo Ricci landed in Canton in 1582 after living in Goa, India for four years.His knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and geography so impressed China's upper classes that in 1601 he was admitted to Beijing and hired as the emperor's scientific advisor.

After the Ming Dynasty was overthrown in 1644 and the "Manchurian" came to the throne, Christianity developed rapidly.Later, however, Christianity was divided as to the extent to which Christianity should be adapted to Chinese customs and ideas.Finally, in 1724, the Chinese emperor drove out the missionaries, and the development of Christianity in China was curbed.The Europeanization of China did not really begin until the 19th century.During this time, the Chinese learned a little about Europe from their commercial dealings with the Portuguese, Dutch, and British in Canton.

Changeable Japan In 1542, when the Portuguese first came to Japan, Japan belonged to the island empire. The emperor was the ruler in name, but in fact he was the figurehead.The daimyo, or feudal princes, held the real power.As one of the great names, the general is similar to the prime minister in the palace, just like Charles Martel or Pepin the short in France.

The Japanese have their own language, but they use Chinese characters for writing.The state religion is called Shinto, which includes the worship of the emperor, but the majority of the population is Buddhist.

Christianity was welcomed. The Japanese initially welcomed the Portuguese.They desperately needed trade and listened to the preaching of the Christian clergy.The famous Francis Xavier and other missionaries preached to them.By 1600, there were as many as 50 Christians in Japan.

Christianity was expelled from Japan, and the Portuguese and Christianity made progress mainly because a small number of daimyo accepted Christianity and forced their subjects to do the same, in exchange for special commercial benefits and Portuguese military help.But the incident shocked the other daimyos, and made the general fear that foreigners would seize power.Buddhist monks vehemently complained of fanaticism and intolerance of Christian missionaries.Besides, the Dutch, the enemies of the Portuguese, came in.In 1614 the general issued a devastating order that all foreign priests were to leave, all churches were to be destroyed, and all converts were to renounce Christianity.This decree was enforced.Priests and monks were beaten and killed, and some were burned alive. Thousands of converts were killed.

The closed-door Japanese government issued an order in 1636 that Japanese ships were not allowed to go out; Japanese subjects were not allowed to leave Japan; and ocean-going ships were not allowed to be built in Japan.The Portuguese were driven out in 1638.Until 1853, except for a small amount of trade with Dutch merchants, Japan's exchanges with Europe almost stopped.

Europeans elsewhere in the Far East The Portuguese occupied the Malay Archipelago in the 16th century and were expelled by the Dutch in the 17th century.In the 16th and 17th centuries, sparsely populated Siberia became a Russian colony. In 1542, exactly 20 years after Magellan's voyage around the world, Spain officially annexed the Philippine Islands. In 1571, the city of Manila was established and became the capital.The Filipinos who believe in Christianity today are the only people in East Asia who have converted to Christianity in large numbers and have been Europeanized. This situation is quite special.

European expansion in the Americas In addition to the Philippine Islands and Siberia, European expansion also had economic and political impacts on Asia.The situation in the New World is completely different from that in Asia.The impact of European expansion on the Americas included not only economic and political influences, but also religious and cultural assimilation.The North and South continents inherited the true character of Europe.

Discovery followed by the conquest of South America, Central America, Mexico and most of the West Indies are called "Latin America" ​​because they were occupied and transformed by the Latin peoples of Europe, mainly the Spaniards, but also many Portuguese and less Part French.

In 1519, the Spaniard Cortes began to conquer Mexico.Within a year, the Aztec regime was overthrown and the Spanish regime established.There is also a treacherous and brutal Spaniard, Pizarro, who raided Peru in 1513.Within a few years, the Inca empire was destroyed, and the riches of the Andes filled Spanish ships, as did those of Mexico and Panama.Brazil fell into the hands of Portugal.Latin American countries were colonies of Spain, Portugal and France for 300 years.Later, between 1800 and 1825, after a series of bloody revolutions, these countries all gained independence.

North America north of Mexico was dominated by French and British colonies, with Dutch and Swede colonies in New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

In 1534, the French came to the St. Lawrence River valley, and then came to the mouth of the Mississippi River.The English settled at the mouths of the Roanoke and James Rivers between 1580 and 1610, near Cape Cod in 1620, and in many other places after that.The Dutch settled in the Hudson Valley between 1610 and 1630.Before long, the Swedes also came to Delaware.Until 1763, the British not only occupied the settlements of the Dutch and the Swedes, but also occupied most of the French territories.

We should remember that modern history is largely the history of European expansion, and that South and North America were the objects of expansion.

The European expansion of the Black Continent had much less impact on Africa than on the Americas or even Asia, although its coastal areas were charted, creating trade posts everywhere.European travelers penetrated the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia and aided it in its battles with its Muslim neighbors.In the northwest, the Spaniards and Portuguese briefly conquered the Muslim Moors.In the far south, the Portuguese created a trading post, which in turn was taken by the Dutch and became a small Dutch colony.But the whole of Africa still belongs to a "black continent", an unexplored wilderness.Its climate is unbearable, most of the local black residents are savage and rude, and the desert and jungle are impassable.

One unfortunate exception to which, unfortunately, Europe's and America's dealings with Africa had important and tragic consequences was the slave trade.

Slavery in Western Europe was destroyed long before the expansion of the world.However, the European colonists in the Americas relied on cheap labor to run agriculture and industry.Many Indians were enslaved, but were quickly replaced by black Africans.Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, or English slave-traders stayed in trading posts along the coast of Africa, hired the negroes who lived on the coast to raid the interior, captured them alive, and handed them over to the slave-traders, who would then be Captive blacks were shipped to America to be sold to colonists.Thousands of blacks were forced to move from Africa to America in this way.Although their descendants were liberated and civilized as time went by, and they became Christians, the racial problems in America today were caused by the misfortune of European expansion in the 15th and 17th centuries, which had long-term effects .

[-]. Impact on Europe

The expeditions and discoveries that spurred progress had a profound impact on Europe.First, they end its isolation and allow it to engage with the rest of the world.All this has brought new interest to life and a new direction to career.Both science and art in Europe were profoundly influenced and stimulated.

Expansion of civilization European civilization has become more colorful, not only because of the vigorous development in Europe, but also because of the colonization of Siberia by Russia, and the conquest and colonization of America, Africa and Asia by Europeans, the geographical area of ​​​​European civilization has greatly expanded .

There were already a small number of European immigrants when they were in the Crusades, and a very high proportion reached after the discovery of the New World.

Trade and Industry The desire for trade is one of the main causes of exploration.The success of these efforts naturally advanced industry and trade.Commerce has undergone great changes both in the quantity and kind of goods transported.Europeans built larger and stronger ships.Heavier and bulkier goods, such as lumber, grain, and livestock, were transported to longer distances by water.Many new products were used in Europe, such as coffee, tea, sugar, potatoes, corn and whale oil.Large quantities of furs, fish and timber were shipped from America to Europe.A wider variety of manufactured goods were produced in Europe and shipped to the colonies.

Wealth and Luxury The expansion of industry and commerce brought wealth to European entrepreneurs, merchants, and bankers.The increase of wealth brought leisure and luxuries.The Persian rugs on the floor, the Chinese silks, Indian cottons and American furs in the clothes, the African gold and South American gems in the decorations, all became customary.

The rise of capitalism. It was the middle class, the townspeople and the bourgeoisie who benefited most from the astonishing development of commerce in Europe.Thus, the medieval guild system developed into modern capitalism.

Commercial and Colonial Wars A striking feature of recent history is the frequency of commercial and colonial wars.These wars, in terms of acute form, began in the period of exploration, discovery and colonial settlement in the 15th and 17th centuries.The Middle Ages was characterized by the confrontation and conflict among European feudal states and city-states; modern times were characterized by the confrontation and war among European nation-states, which conflicted with each other worldwide.It is nation-states, not cities or feudal states, that carry the banner of resistance to distant lands.

Wars between the Dutch and the Portuguese, the Spanish and the French, the French and the English, and other wars were fought for many years in many parts of the world.

(End of this chapter)