Silver, Sugar, or Spices?The Rise of a Global Trade Network

Introduction:

The interconnection of the Eastern and Western hemispheres made possible by transoceanic voyaging marked a key transformation of this period. Technological innovations helped to make transoceanic connections possible. Changing patterns of long-distance trade included the global circulation of some commodities (ex. silver, sugar, & spices) and the formation of new regional markets and financial centers.

Focus Question:

What commodity (silver, sugar, or spices) was most important in the creation of a global trade network after 1500 C.E.?

Objectives :

By completing this assignment, student should understand:

  • there was an intensification of all existing regional trade networks that brought prosperity and economic disruption to the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Sahara, and overland Eurasia
  • the new global circulation of goods was facilitated by the Spanish taking silver from the Americas to purchase Asian goods for the Atlantic markets, but regional markets continued to flourish in Afro-Eurasia
  • European merchants’ role in Asian trade was characterized mostly by transporting goods from one Asian country to another market in Asia
  • Commercialization and the global economy were connected to new global circulation of silver from the Americas
  • Influenced by mercantilism, European countries used joint-stock companies to control their domestic and colonial economies
  • The Atlantic system involved the movement of goods, wealth, and free and unfree laborers
  • traditional peasant agriculture increased and changed, plantations expanded, and demand for labor increased.
  • Peasant labor intensified in many regions
  • Slavery in Africa continued as did the export of slaves to the Mediterranean & the Indian Ocean
  • The growth of the plantation economy increased the demand for slaves in the Americas
  • Colonial economies in the Americas depended on a range of coerced labor
  • European states established new maritime empires in the Americas
  • Required maritime empires: Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, & British
  • competition over trade routes, state rivalries, and local resistance all provided significant challenges to state consolidation and expansion

Procedures:

Day One: Silver

  1. Read Ways of the World chapter 15 and record information from the text on the Silver chart.
  2. Use the list of additional sources sent to you via Google Docs to read (or watch) three additional sources of information on silver and it’s role in the creation of a global trade network.
  3. You can only use one video
  4. You must use one primary source document
  5. Record information from the additional sources on the chart. You may want to take notes on a separate sheet of notebook before consolidating information on the chart, so you do not run out of room on the chart.
  6. Record important information (cities, trade routes, etc.) on a world map in order to provide yourself with a visual representation of the rise of a global trade network. This should help you with the final aspects of the assignment.

Day Two: Sugar

  1. Repeat procedures for silver (use sugar this time) and record information from the text on Sugar chart.
  2. Continue recording important information on the map.

Day Three: Spices

  1. Repeat procedures for silver (use spices this time) and record information from the text on Spices chart.
  2. Continue recording important information on the map.

Day Four: Your Conclusion

  1. Use the information from your chart and map to answer the focus question. Use the attached sheet or type your answer.
  2. Use Socratic Seminar question sheet to create a series of questions to use in a Socratic Seminar on the origin of a global trade network.Turn in Socratic Seminar questions on…

Day Six:

1. Participate in class Socratic Seminar on origin of global trade network.

Silver the Creation of a Global Trade Network

My four sources for silver:

  1. Strayer, Ways of the World, chapter 15

Information from the Textbook / Information that supports the information in textbook / Information challenging or adding to the information in the textbook
Source 1 / Source 2 / Source 2
Source 3 / Source 3
Source 4 / Source 4

Questions that need answered or topics/ideas that require additional research:

Sugar the Creation of a Global Trade Network

My four sources for sugar:

  1. Strayer, Ways of the World, chapter 15

Information from the Textbook / Information that supports the information in textbook / Information challenging or adding to the information in the textbook
Source 1 / Source 2 / Source 2
Source 3 / Source 3
Source 4 / Source 4

Questions that need answered or topics/ideas that require additional research:

Spices the Creation of a Global Trade Network

My four sources for spices:

  1. Strayer, Ways of the World, chapter 15

Information from the Textbook / Information that supports the information in textbook / Information challenging or adding to the information in the textbook
Source 1 / Source 2 / Source 2
Source 3 / Source 3
Source 4 / Source 4

Questions that need answered or topics/ideas that require additional research:

Your Name:

Instructions:

Answer the focus question below by:

  • Has relevant thesis that answers the focus questions and supports that thesis with evidence from appropriate sources
  • Addresses strengths/weaknesses of all three commodities
  • Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.

Focus Question

Based on the textbook and the additional sources you consulted, what commodity (silver, sugar, or spices) was most important in the creation of a global trade network after 1500 C.E.?