Lecture 3

Outline:

• How the process of globalization started?
• How did globalization expand?
• How crisis affected that expansion?

History of Europe

• Roman empire → collapsed

  • Scattered communities

• Conflict between Spain and other Europeans

• Europeans expand in North Africa → not very successful

• Christian kingdoms

• Relative political disunity

  • Not like in China…

• Renaissance

  • Feudalism - different kinds
  • Small scale and self-sustained communities
  • Towns + cities = very small
  • Unified economic and political system: those who own economic power have political power → Nobles
  • They are in charge of their community and compete with one another
  • Not a market economy!
    • Village owes certain amount of produce to local noble
  • Every tiny community imposed a toll to pay the nobles, even if you are just passing through them - Extreme protectionism
  • Doesn’t encourage trade
  • BUT trade by sea is very attractive!
    • Build up of maritime capacity → encourage people to invest in this (don’t have to pay toll)

• 1450: Europe emerges from economic + climate crisis

• Farmers had more bargaining power (fewer of them because many died due to the plague)

• Agricultural change: move to intensification - produce more things with less people

  • They used horses for farming
  • Producing grain in more quantity

• England: instead of producing food for themselves, start to raise cows + sheeps → can export more manufactured goods (leather + tools)

  • New tentative small market system

• Portugal: not good terrain to produce food so they start to expand (because they can’t intensify)

  • Expand to Altantic islands - grow wheat, sugar, fishing stations
  • These islands are pretty much inhabited
  • Look for wood - present in largely in Baltic regions

• Prices rise = not good for nobles!

• Expansion: Atlantic islands + Eastern Europe → increase in food

  • Overpopulation: increased number of peasants = problem for nobility
  • Mass expulsion of ethnic communities
  • Solution: even more expansion…

• Peasants

  • Losing their bargaining power because there are more of them, don’t need them as much because import food!
  • Enclosure: peasants were kicked off their land (because they didn’t really own it) and it was given to landlords → specialized farming
  • Landlords: nobles, merchant class

• More lawyers and notaries to faciliate trade, which necessitated contracts throug

Expansion

Portugal

• State could act in a unified way

• Merchants + nobles agreed

• Was a trading power - had a lot of money/capital

• Had mercantile capacity through ships and sailors = were better than others

• Started exploring down the African coast

• So set up trading posts

  • Import spices, gold and ivory at a low price from African states
  • Gold is used to fund further expeditions + further production
  • Trade horses + manufactured products to African states

• Will use Atlantic islands to get to the Americas

• Conquered Brazil

Spain

• 1492: Start expeditions - wanted to reach India, reached the Americas

• Permanent colony on Haiti (inhabited by Taino) - 1493

  • Kill everyone by 1530
  • Creates a state of war → famine → increased susceptibility to diseases + prevent community from bouncing back

• Conquer South/Central America

• Treaty of Tordesillas: international agreement that splits the world in 2 → 1/2 Portugal, 1/2 Spain (gets more advantage)

  • Goal: colonize massive portion of the world → business
  • Globalization

Spain colonies

• Encomienda: coerced cash-cropped system similar to a slave system - 50-60 years

  • Forced labour system → tribute system
  • Not feudalism because it is plugged into the world market economy - exports

• Globalization: new system of social ownership, new system of labour, produce goods in America for Spanish markets

Food

• Potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes, corn, peanuts = important factors in the European diet so very valuable

Summary

• Interconnected European market

• Europeans can build ships, weapons, trade goods

• Expansion to Atlantic islands, Africa

• Bring back gold → fund expedititons

• Conquest of Central + South America

• Building up of capital