Throughout the Middle Ages, cities in Afro-Eurasia grew as trade centers due to advantages such as faster transportation from the waters of the ocean. Calicut brought merchants together from all around Asia because the government protected them through laws and policies, also of their spices exclusively pepper. As a result of the exchanges happening in Calicut, there was a war between Calicut, Portuguese and Chinese forces heavily armed with men and many lethal weapons. People from China and Portugal wanted to trade for Calicuts specialties, specialties like spices especially pepper that made them more wanted than others. From trading people inherited culture, religion, and ups and downs from trade.
Trading around Calicut lead to a war with
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The king demanded him to go back with bigger and more lavish gifts. They made an arrangement with the Zamorin to trade in Calicut, while this was successful. When they arrived they were confronted by Muslim traders in Calicut which ended up with a Portuguese massacre and a war between the Portugal and Calicut for many years. This means that when The Portuguese tried to trade with Calicut Gama was denied of any profit which ruined Gama. So he returned to his homeland empty handed with no profit. The king demanded him to go back and try again with even more insightful grifts. When he returned with more gifts his men were slaughtered by Muslims. Which lead to war between Calicut and Portugal. This evidence supports the claim that there was conflict between the Portuguese and the people at Calicut, which ended with a killing of many Portuguese people from the people of Calicut committing war on them. All of this lead a man by the name of Zheng He took some safety precautions. In the article, “ Zheng He’s Ship,” written by Ibn Battuta, from 1325-1354. Zheng’s had 317 ships carrying 28,000 men in total each one contained 1,000 men per ship. Each ship accommodated 600 sailors and 400 soldiers, including archers, having shields, and Arbalists. Who had crossbows who threw Naphtha which were
Geography plays a key role with trade. The fourth painting that Brook shows us is called “The Geographer”. The main focal point in this painting is the globe that is located behind the man. During this time, knowledge of geography was far from perfect, but it was drastically improving. As Brook points out, the Spanish Jesuit, Adrino de las Cortes, was a great example of the moving geography of the epoch. The ship that he led was crashed onto the rocks of the Chinese coast by 1625, right after it had departed from Manila. This was completely by mistake, as they soon discovered uncharted territory. The people who had been living there had never seen any foreign people at a close range. It surprised them to see the wide span of people they brought: African Americans, Portuguese, Muslims, Spaniards, and the list goes on. This showed that the rise of the global world did not only imply goods and material objects, but also people from all
...ecause of conflict or the desire for the possession of more land or the resources which come with that land. Commerce is a way of life, and ideas are exchanged throughout it. A first-hand account from a Muslim bureaucrat of how ideas of Muslim people were incorporated into the Mongolian Empire would have helped support the fact that war does indeed bring new people to new places. Another document that would have helped support the subject of travel as a factor in cultural exchange would have been an account of a station owner in a city such as Cambaluc, where Marco Polo traveled. This would have helped because stations were the present-day equivalent of hotels, and a station owner would have met and spoken to several people from distinct cultures. Altogether, factors affecting the cultures of civilizations can be added by wars, travelers, and businessmen.
When comparing the Chinese and Western historical development, the similar key events would have very different outcomes due to their different backgrounds. During the fifteenth century, Zheng He was commissioned to lead the “treasure ships” for seven voyages down the Western Seas. And, Prince Henry sent expeditions to explore the western coast of Africa. China and Portugal, the both ends of the Eurasian continent, almost simultaneously began marine navigations. They have shared some similar features, but there are actually major differences between the two. This paper will compare and contrast these two remarkable explorers. The focus will be on the ideas and circumstances that influenced their actions, and their importance in shaping history.
As new ideas traveled main trade routes, such as the Silk Road and the Mediterranean, the effects of such were felt through an influx of contact between countries due to increased desire for new information and countries gaining a larger presence on the world stage. This phenomenon can also be seen through the lens of cultural exchange that took place during this same time period in Eurasia. A major component of the Eurasian trade networks, such as the Silk Road and Indian Ocean, was that they fostered interregional contacts that had ceased to previously exist. When a country had a desire for study or technology, they earned more respect on the global stage. This can be further examined by looking at Marco Polo’s voyage into Asia.
A mostly non violent conflict that occasionally flared into brutality. And indirectly contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire that spent two digit tonnes of gold on importing spices annually, which later helped spread the plague to Italy. Later in the 16th century the English and Dutch stepped up to compete in spice trade and global violence. Some regimes were established to control nutmeg and mace production. Locals were enslaved for workforce, power was ruthlessly enforced by mercenary samurai warriors hired in Japan and problematic villages razed. Spices commanded such high prices because of the mystery surrounding them as well as their string flavors and strong, pleasant scents. Battles were fought over control od the spice trade, especially by the Portuguese, but in the end, as people grew tired of over spiced food, and the mystery surrounding the spice’s origins were discovers, spices greatly decreased in value. However, the spice trade influenced explores to go out in search of new trade routes to cut out Muslim middlemen, discovering new routes to Asia and even the discovery of the
...were known to be two of the most influencial men in terms of “sailing south”. The 14th and 15th centuries in China and Portugal represented an era of expeditions and exploration. Evidence suggests that the structures and values of a society do in fact affect the way people view economic and political expansion and contact with other cultures which can be proved by ample historical evidence. Zheng He was on these expeditions to prove to others that China had indeed regained power and that they wanted to restore tribute on those who didn’t pay it. Henry the Navigator had many intentions for his expeditions. He was eager to find new resources, establish new trade routes, and to spread Christianity. Both of China’s and Portugal’s different structures and values led to the way the two societies viewed economic and political expansion and contact with other cultures.
During the 15th century Europe had numerous changes. The population expanded rapidly which gave rise to new classes of merchants. European nations were very wealthy when it came to spices. Therefore, they traded them on the land route from Asia. These land routes were controlled by the Turkish Empire, which lead to many problems for the countries who were trying to trade these spices and acquire other valuables. This then steered them to begin searching for other routes of trade to essentially cut out the “middle man”. A race then began to erupt between many European countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and England. These four countries all wanted to be the first to discover new land. However, Portugal pulled ahead and sailed along
After this, China shied away from maritime travels and expenses and many records of Zheng He and his voyages disappeared. It was not until the twentieth century that Zheng He started to become an interest again. As so, the significance of his travels could once more be understood by the world. Zheng He’s voyages, put China in the history of oceanic “…exploration, trade, colonization, and exercise of sea power, even if such portrayals took Zheng He out of the context of early Ming history and viewed his voyages from a Western analytical perspective.” (Dreyer, 165). Not to mention, the sheer size of his fleet and treasure ships; which at that time was a massive achievement of its own. Apart from the significance of his fleet and voyages, Zheng He himself also deserves credit for rising so high, as a eunuch who came from humble beginnings.
Accompanied by 27,000 men on 62 large and 255 small ships, the Chinese eunuch Zheng He, led 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, Middle East and east coast of Africa in the span of 28 years during the Ming Dynasty. The scale of Zheng He’s fleet was unprecedented in world history. The large treasure ships used during the expeditions were purported to be 440 feet long and 180 feet wide (Dreyer, p. 102). Throughout his travels, Zheng He brought Chinese tea, porcelain and silk products to foreign countries and also brought back exotic goods to the Ming court such as spices, plants and leather. Although his voyages fostered commercial trades and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, the goal of his expeditions stemmed from the political motivation to maintain the tributary system and his voyages had important political implication of causing Neo-Confucian opposition and suspension of the expedition.
Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.
Meanwhile, the Crusades had expanded trade routes to the East and given Europeans a taste for imported goods… and luxurious textiles,” (History).
Zheng He's first fleet included 27,870 men on 317 ships, including sailors, clerks, interpreters, soldiers, artisans, medical men and meteorologists. On board were large quantities of cargo including silk goods, porcelain, gold and silverware, copper utensils, iron implements and cotton goods. The fleet sailed along China's coast to Champa close to Vietnam and, after crossing the South China Sea, visited Java, Sumatra and reached Sri Lanka by passing through the Strait of Malacca. On the way back it sailed along the west coast of India and returned home in 1407. Envoys from Calicut in India and several countries in Asia and the Middle East also boarded the ships to pay visits to China. Zheng He's second and third voyages taken shortly after, followed roughly the same route.
The Europeans needed to acquire profitable and cheap labor somehow. They knew that workers in foreign lands would be perfect. Not only were cheap laborers needed, but also profitable and cheap land. Goods such as tea, oranges, coffee, bananas, and chocolate were at high demand. The easiest way to acquire all of their desi...
Black pepper, the “King of Spices” was the first driver of historical globalization, according to Yale professor Paul Freedman (2003). Black pepper, in the Middle Ages, was found all around Europe, and were often traded in place of a standard currency (Haggerty A., 2011). Paralleled to today, the origins and production of spices were much a mystery; coming from far off lands and picked by mysterious means (Singletary K., 2010). Europeans in the middle ages believed the burnt appearance of black pepper was attributed to a harvesting method that involved burning down trees to prevent serpent guardians from poisoning the pickers (Singletary K., 2010). The exotic nature and scarcity of spices in medieval Europe were signs of wealth, and thought
...ition of spices into the market during the Middle Ages not only created an economic boom but also led to the change in social, political, and religious outlooks of society. The vast importance of the spice trade opened the doors for nations to expand and create new relationships with neighboring regions, but most importantly it allowed individuals such as Columbus, Da Gama, Polo and other explorers to be able to discover new domains that eventually led to the colonization of the Americas today. Paul Freedman’s book does an excellent job in enlightening the reader of how meaningful spices were throughout the centuries and with the help of numerous primary sources, the message was clear just after reading the first chapter. The book allows us to have a better understanding of the fundamental importance spices played in shifting the medieval times into the modern era.