The Commercial Revolution Quiz

Maritime Empires and Trade

• Shift from local barter to large-scale international trade using gold and silver.
• Joint-stock companies (like the East India Company) emerged to finance trade, particularly in Asia.
• New ocean routes expanded the global economy and facilitated labor movement (including enslaved people).
• The Atlantic system fostered cultural blending (African, American, European).
• Silver, sugar, and slavery were central to developing mercantilist empires.

Economic Strategies

• Wealth was measured by gold and silver holdings.
• Mercantilist policies aimed to maximize exports and minimize imports.
• Capital accumulation allowed for investment in long-distance trade.
• High-interest lending became more common, despite some Church restrictions.
• Increased gold and silver from the Americas led to greater wealth.

Commercial Revolution

• Transformation to a gold/silver-based trade economy with global impact.
• Causes included European overseas colonies, new ocean routes, population growth, and inflation (Price Revolution).
• Joint-stock companies managed risks, encouraged investment, and implemented limited liability.
• Successful home businesses fueled middle-class investment in joint-stock ventures.
• Spain and Portugal still relied on government funding for exploration, unlike companies like the East India Company.

Commerce and Finance

• Dutch dominated European trade, with faster, lighter ships.
• The Dutch East India Company profited in the Spice Islands; the Bank of Amsterdam facilitated international currency trade.
• A high Dutch standard of living resulted from goods like diamonds, linen, and tulips.
• Economic bubbles triggered crises in France and England.

Triangular Trade

• European demand for labor in the Americas fueled the Atlantic triangular trade.
• The trade route saw European goods traded for enslaved Africans in Africa.
• Enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas in exchange for American goods like sugar and tobacco.
• Sugar became a highly profitable export for European powers.

Rivalries for the Indian Ocean Trade

• Atlantic trade grew, but the Indian Ocean trade remained fiercely contested.
• Portuguese defeated Muslim and Venetian forces in 1509 to gain control of trade.
• Portuguese failed to conquer Morocco, but the ensuing European involvement led to expansion in West Africa.

Changes and Continuities in Trade Networks

• New global circulation of goods, wealth, and labor emerged.
• European rulers and joint-stock companies maintained trade patterns; for example, Spanish tobacco monopolies.
• Afro-Eurasian markets continued, with increased shipping volumes.

Effects of the Atlantic Slave Trade

• West African kingdoms were weakened and experienced reduced population growth.
• Trade competition led to violence; dependency on European goods.
• Some African societies (e.g., Dahomey, Oyo) grew wealthy and gained firearms, increasing intra-African conflicts.

Slavery and Gender

• Enslaved males were predominantly taken, causing imbalances in gender ratios.
• Polygyny increased, and women often assumed male roles.

Impact of New Foods

• New American crops (maize, peanuts, manioc) enhanced African diets and boosted population growth, despite negative impacts of the slave trade.

Political and Cultural Changes for Indigenous Peoples

Colonial Administration

• Spanish/Portuguese colonial governance replaced indigenous systems.
• Viceroys acted as administrators while audiencias (royal courts) offered oversight.
• Communication challenges limited Spanish control.

Cultural Changes

• Indigenous culture suffered loss, including the destruction of texts.
• Indigenous languages persisted in some regions, but Spanish and Portuguese became dominant.
• Creoles gained political dominance in New Spain, but sought independence.

Effects of Belief Systems

• Global connections expanded religious influence, sparking syncretic beliefs and conflicts.

Syncretic Belief Systems in the Americas

• African religions blended with Christianity. This resulted in:
  • Santería (Cuba and Latin America)
  • Vodun (Haiiti)
  • Candomblé (Brazil)
  • African American churches in the U.S.

Islam

• Enslaved Africans brought Islam to the Americas.

Religion in Latin America

• Catholic missionaries converted many indigenous people.
• Syncretic traditions remained (e.g., Virgin of Guadalupe).

Global Interactions and Religious Conflicts

• Syncretic religions spread in Afro-Eurasia.
• Religious divisions caused conflicts (e.g., Sunni-Shi'a, Catholic-Protestant).

Internal and External Challenges to State Power (1450-1750)

• Social, political, and economic groups resisted state expansion as empires developed.
• Revolts occurred within empires, including:
  • Fronde Civil Disturbances (France, 1648-1653) (resistance to royal power)
  • Metacom’s War (1675-1678) (Native American resistance)

Resistance to Portugal in Africa

• Portuguese shifted focus to Africa.
• Engaged in slave raids and attacked African states (e.g., Ndongo).
• Ana Nzinga (Ndongo ruler) allied with Portugal for protection.
• The alliance failed, and Nzinga built Matamba into a strong, independent state.

Local Resistance in Russia

• Serfdom worsened due to increased grain demand and heavy taxes.
• Serfdom benefited the nobility and the state by controlling peasant labor.
• Serfdom expanded with Russian expansion, even as it ended in other parts of Europe
• Mirs (village communes) controlled peasant land.
• Cossacks and Peasant Rebellions
  • Cossacks, runaway serfs/fighters, challenged the tsarist government.
  • Yemelyan Pugachev's Rebellion (1774) challenged Catherine the Great.
  • Rebellion aimed to reduce noble control over serfs.
  • It was crushed, leading to increased oppression of peasants.

Rebellion in South Asia

• Mughal Empire (controlled much of present-day India and Pakistan) promoted Persian/Islamic culture.
• The Rajput resistance challenged Mughal control.
• The Maratha Rebellion (1680-1707) led to the decline of Mughal influence.

Revolts in the Spanish Empire

• Pueblo Revolt (1680): Indigenous resistance to Spanish religious conversion efforts.
• Indigenous groups drove out Spaniards, killed many, and destroyed churches.

Struggles for Power in England and Its Colonies

• Maroon Wars (1728-1740, 1795-1796) fought by runaway slaves in Jamaica.
• Slave revolts were common in places where enslaved Africans were a majority.
• Gloucester County Rebellion (Virginia, 1663): Enslaved Africans and white indentured servants plotted for freedom.
• Metacom's War: Resistance from indigenous groups in New England to English colonists.

Changing Social Hierarchies (1450-1750)

• Social hierarchies evolved as societies faced internal and external conflicts.
• Ethnic minorities faced varied treatment (e.g., Jews expelled from Europe but welcomed in the Ottoman Empire).
• Global social classes emerged: royalty, nobility, landowners, scholars, soldiers, merchants, artisans, peasants, serfs, and slaves.
• Discrimination affected groups based on religion, ethnicity, or social class.

Social Classes and Minorities in Gunpowder Empires

• Ottoman Society had warrior aristocrats competing with ulama, and influential Janissaries.
• Sultans used the timar system to encourage loyalty.
• Ottoman Empire had religious tolerance for Jews and Christians with limitations (e.g., jizya tax).
• Akbar the Great (Mughal Empire) promoted religious tolerance, ending the jizya tax, and supporting religious groups.
• Women in Ottoman courts played a role in harem politics.
• Roxelana's rise from slavery to powerful position was rare social mobility.

Manchu Power and Conflicts in the Qing Dynasty

• Manchu rulers imposed cultural dominance over Han Chinese.
• Maintained Chinese civil service exams.
• Conflicts occurred: Han men forced to wear queues, and Han defectors facilitated Qing rule.

European Hierarchies

• Nobility and royalty held power through inheritance.
• Landowners dominated in regions like England/Netherlands.
• Tensions arose w emerging middle class and radical religious groups.
• Rulers like Louis XIV centralized power.
• Frederick of Prussia viewed royalty as state servants.
• Decline in anti-Jewish prejudice due to Enlightenment; Jews played roles in banking and commerce.

Russian Social Classes

• Moscow's hierarchy included boyars (nobility), merchants, peasants, and serfs.
• Tensions existed between boyars and rulers (e.g., Ivan IV).

Political and Economic Elites in the Americas

• Casta System in Latin America was a racial hierarchy based on ancestry.
• Peninsulares (Iberian-born) held top positions followed by Creoles.
• Racial background often determined social status w/ lower classes carrying higher taxes.

Continuity and Change from c. 1450 to c. 1750

• Interconnectedness of world through economic, political, and cultural networks by 1750.
• Maritime powers in Western Europe established trading empires.
• Religions and cultural practices spread, creating syncretic blends.
• Coercive labor systems persisted and new forms emerged.

Transoceanic Travel and Trade

• Western Hemisphere's integration into global trade networks.
• European adoption of technologies like charts, astrolabes, compass, magnetic compass
• Columbian Exchange: Biological exchange between eastern and western hemispheres.

The Atlantic System

• Western Europe, Western Africa, and the Americas connected through trade.
• Changes in food production, diseases, and migrations.
• Spreading of religions and formation of syncretic beliefs.

Economic Changes

• Western Hemisphere integrated into global trade via Portuguese, Dutch, and English.
• European dominance impacted Arab, Indian, and Chinese merchants.
• European colonies established in the Americas.
• Silver from the Americas financed Asian (particularly Chinese) trade.

Mercantilism and Capitalism

• European monarchs used mercantilist policies.
• Shift toward capitalism; investor-driven joint-stock companies arose.

Effects of the New Global Economy

• Benefits included wealth flow and rising European middle class.
• Drawbacks included inflation (especially in Spain & China).
• Prosperity for various regions as funded arts, architecture, and government legitimacy

Demand for Labor Intensifies

• Atlantic Slave Trade's massive impact on Africa; male enslavement, gender imbalances, population shifts.
• New labor systems like encomienda, hacienda, etc., emerged in the Americas for indentured servitude & exploiting resources.

New Social Structures

• Interactions resulted in new social hierarchies based on race and ethnicity.
• Whites held wealth and power.
• Mixed-heritage groups formed new subcultures.
• Racial tensions led to future revolutions.

Test your knowledge on the Commercial Revolution and its impact on international trade. Explore key aspects such as joint-stock companies, mercantilism, and the role of the Dutch East India Company in shaping global commerce. This quiz covers significant economic transformations that shaped maritime empires.