Notas

Term

When?

Where?

What is it?

Who did it affect?

Grand Canal

Started in 5th century BCE. Added to through the 13th century CE

Eastern China

The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. Constructed in sections from the 5th century BC onwards, it was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire for the first time in the 7th century AD (Sui dynasty). This led to a series of gigantic construction sites, creating the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution. 

The Grand Canal formed the backbone of the Empire’s inland communication system, transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population. It has played an important role in ensuring the country’s economic prosperity and stability and is still in use today as a major means of communication.

Porcelain

first produced around 600 C.E

China

High-fired (about 1300º) white ceramics, whose bodies are translucent and make a ringing sound when struck. Chinese ceramics were first exported in large quantities during the Song dynasty (960-1279)

Because no one else made porcelain, all other civilizations had to trade with China to get it. This created more wealth and a higher demand for trade with China. Porcelain also opened up new markets in China, expanded the wealth of artisans and merchants, and helped to bring up the middle class

Luxury Goods

The period 1200 CE-

1450 CE saw the proliferation of the trade of luxury goods. 

Many of the luxury goods that are important for this class come from China and India

A trade item that is not necessary to live, but it is deemed highly desirable within a culture or society. Examples include: silk, porcelain, gold, ivory, and spices.

Merchants and empires along the Silk Road and Indian Ocean Trade routes were able to gain great wealth due to their access to luxury goods, which were highly desired by people in the Middle East and Europe

Caravanserai

1200-1450

Along the Silk Road

a roadside inn where travelers could rest and refresh themselves and their animals. These inns were often located along major trade routes, such as the Silk Road, and were used as way stations for caravans traveling between Asia, Europe, and Africa

medieval caravanserais were lively seedbeds for globalization, resembling the modern city in the variety of people, languages, goods, and customs found within their walls. Travelers from East and West—speaking many different languages—traded stories, news, merchandise, and ideas while they mingled at these trade hubs

Silk Road

1200-1450

Asia - through the Middle East and then connected to Europe and Africa

The Silk Road was not a single, well-defined road, but rather a network of routes that crisscrossed the continents, passing through mountains, deserts, and other challenging terrain. It got its name from the lucrative trade in silk that took place along these routes.

The Silk Road was not only a means of transporting goods, but also a conduit for the exchange of ideas, cultures, and technologies between the different regions it connected. The Silk Road was an important part of the global trade network for many centuries, and its legacy can still be seen today in the cultural and economic links that exist between the regions it once connected.

Trans-Saharan Trade Route

1200-1450

North Africa

a network of trade routes that crossed the Sahara Desert in Africa, connecting the Mediterranean coast to the West African savannah and the sub-Saharan region

They were also a major source of cultural exchange, as traders brought goods, ideas, and technologies from one part of the world to another, leading to the spread of religions, languages, and other cultural traditions.

Trans-Atlantic Trade Route

1450-1750

Europe, Africa, North America, South America

During the colonial era, Britain and its colonies engaged in a “triangular trade,” shipping natural resources, goods, and people across the Atlantic Ocean in an effort to enrich the mother country.

In the colonial era, the Atlantic Ocean served as a highway between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, tying together a network of people, raw materials, finished goods, merchants, and sailors that brought wealth to colonial empires. Trade with Europeans led to far-reaching consequences among Native American communities, including warfare, cultural change, and disease.

The Middle Passage

1500’s-1800’s

East Africa to the Americas

The Middle Passage was the trans-Atlantic voyage of over packed slave frigates. It was a crucial leg in the to triangle trade system because it was responsible for most of the profit and was also the most difficult leg of the journey. It is estimated that around 18 million Africans were loaded aboard the ships on the African coast but only 15 million made it to the Americas alive

Those involved with the Middle passage were mainly the Africans, the Americans, and the European sea captains. The Africans fought one another and would sell the loosing group to the sea traders, the sea captains would transport their cargo to the Americas, and the Americans would barter and purchase the African cargos. Once this was completed the captains would return to Europe to do this all again.

Banking Houses

1200-1450

Middle East/ Silk Road

A place where a merchant could place his wealth for safe keeping. After depositing money, a merchant would be issued a bill of credit that could be used to purchase goods imported from outside the local economy

Facilitated the spread of long-distance trade across the Silk Road. 

Paper Money

800 CE

China

The Song Dynasty government licensed specific deposit shops where people could leave their coins and receive notes. In the 1100s, Song authorities decided to take direct control of this system, issuing the world's first proper, government-produced paper money.

These banknotes could be converted into hard cash at any time in any of the issuing banks. Widely circulated, they were readily accepted for the payment in debt and other financial obligations. This system helped to facilitate economic exchange.

Camel Saddles

1200-1450

Central Asia

The "frame and mattress" saddle, probably developed by Arabs, distributed the weight of the cargo evenly across the camel's back allowing a single camel to carry 500 to 1000 pounds of goods

Despite its remarkable adaptation to hot arid climates, the camel was useless for trade without a saddle. The humps on a camel's back are soft and non-supportive; one cannot simply throw packs of goods across its back. The camel saddle, along with new breeding techniques (see infobox on Animal Husbandry), greatly increased the volume of luxury goods moving across Eurasia.

Zamindars

1450-1750

India

A tax collector or landlord in India under the Mughal empire

The Mughal state had the zamindars collect tribute from peasants and allowed them to keep 10 percent of it themselves before sending it to the government. Tribute was paid in kind, in the form of crops, rice, pepper, or some other agricultural product. As with all aristocrats with local authority, zamindars constituted a potentially decentralizing force. Revenues to the state began to drop because the zamindars were keeping much of this tribute for themselves; peasants resented them for growing rich at their expense.

Ottoman tax farming

1450-1750

Ottoman Empire

taxation system carried out by farming of public revenue. The state auctioned taxation rights to the highest bidder, who then collected the state taxes and made payments in fixed installments, keeping a part of the tax revenue for his own use

the Ottoman Empire’s tax farming system was successful in collecting taxes and was a part of the formation of the modern Ottoman public finance system.

Dutch East India Company

Established in 1602

The Dutch Republic

In 17th-century Europe, globalization was brand new. The mighty Dutch East India Company that brought porcelain, spices and exotica to Europe was the first business entity to link the East and West; indeed, it was the first multinational corporation.

The Dutch East India Company cut the middle men out of global trade, which created great profits for the company and powered the Dutch economy for 200 years, and made the Netherlands a global power

Incan Mit’a System

Started in 1200-1450, intensified by the Spanish through the 1500’s and 1600’s 

Peru

A mandatory service in the society of the Inca Empire that was used for the construction of the road network, bridges, agricultural terraces, and fortifications in ancient Peru

Enormous construction of highways and structures were possible because of their Mita system. This system was usurped by the Spanish after colonization and was used to extract work out of Native Americans

Chattel Slavery

1600’s-1800’s

The Americas 

Chattel slavery is the most common form of slavery known to Americans. This system, which allowed people — considered legal property — to be bought, sold and owned forever, was lawful and supported by the United States and European powers from the 16th – 18th centuries.

People from Africa became the chattel slaves to the colonial powers in Americas predominately after sugar plantations, began by the Portuguese, spread across South America and the Caribbean.

Indentured Servitude

1600’s-1800’s

America, British Empire

a form of labor where an individual is under contract to work without a salary to repay an indenture or loan within a certain timeframe. Indentured servitude was popular in the United States in the 1600s as many European immigrants worked in exchange for the price of passage to America

Until the late 18th century, indentured servitude was common in America and a common way for Europeans to immigrate to the colonies. The system was also used to exploit Asian immigrants who were used mainly to construct roads and railway systems.

Over one-half of all European immigrants to the American colonies between the 1630s and the American Revolution came under indentures. Many young children were taken from England to the American colonies as indentured servants, often kidnapped off the streets and sent off as merchandise to be sold as servants in the New World.

encomienda system

1500’s-1600’s

Spanish colonial holdings in the New World

a Spanish slave labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military protection and education

The Spanish crown reluctantly approved the granting of encomiendas because it needed to reward the conquistadors and establish a system of governance in the newly-conquered territories. The system essentially made landed nobility out of men whose only skills were murder, mayhem, and torture. It swiftly led to abuses: encomenderos made unreasonable demands of the Native Peruvians who lived on their lands, working them excessively or demanding tribute of crops that could not be grown on the land

Hacienda System

1500’s-1800’s

Spanish colonial holdings in the New World

An estate, mostly seen in the colonies of the Spanish Empire. A lot of haciendas were used as mines, factories, or plantations, and some combined all of these activities. Traditionally organized in a clear hierarchy that was inspired by paternalistic societies. In this social organization, the landlords were sitting at the top of the system while the workers were at the bottom.

Similar to the feudal system in Europe, the Hacienda system was designed to keep people that were in debt working on a piece of land. The hacienda system evolved throughout the years, but the conditions of the workers became increasingly worse as landowners strove to create more profits.

joint-stock companies

1600’s-1700’s

Based in Europe. Did business globally

Large, investor-backed companies that sponsored European exploration and colonization in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Monarchies often granted monopolies to joint-stock companies to trade routes. The Muscovy Company of England, for example, monopolized trade routes to Russia, for example. Another example would be the Dutch East India Company controlling routes to the Spice Islands (modern day Indonesia).

These companies later secured royal charters for colonies, like the Jamestown colony in Virginia, and European governments funded them for business purposes. This is significant because it fueled colonization, a key step to the global economy about to emerge.

mercantilism

1500’s-1700’s

European empires practiced this system

An economic system in which nation-states enrich themselves by limiting imports and encouraging exports

European nations, in order to create this market, created colonies and established territories where they attempted to generate a market for certain goods.The monarchies in Europe ran these new trade paths very strictly in order to ensure that the products and goods their colonies were buying were from their own mother country.

free-market capitalism

Emerged in the 1500’s-1700’s

Western European empires were the first to adopt this system

the law of supply and demand, rather than a central government, regulates production, labor, and the marketplace.

Many large businesses grew extremely wealthy with little interference in their practices. Equipped with free trade government policies, businesses developed new approaches and new banking practices. Large businesses developed into corporations with ownership from shareholders, with some even taking control over whole industries, thus becoming a monopoly.

socialism

Emerged in the 1800’s

Western Europe

A political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole

Socialist ideals operate on the principle that since the government controls almost all of society’s functions, it can make better use of resources, labors and lands. Many socialist policies were adopted in response to economic disparities created by the Industrial Revolution in Western nations.

communism

Late 1800’s

Western Europe

a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs

For a large part of the 20th century, about one-third of the world lived in communist countries—countries ruled by dictatorial leaders who controlled the lives of everyone else. The communist leaders set the wages, they set the prices, and they distributed the wealth. Western capitalist nations fought hard against communism, and eventually, most communist countries collapsed.

feudalism

400’s-1200’s

Western Europe

a social system that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return.

Feudalism was the dominant economic system in Europe until the Black Plague decimated the population in the mid 1300’s. A higher demand for labor, and a smaller pool of workers, forced landowners to ensure better treatment and terms for their tenants. 

Opium Wars

1839-1842

China

The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants. The problem was that the Chinese would not buy British products in return. They would only sell their goods in exchange for silver, and as a result large amounts of silver were leaving Britain.

In order to stop this, the East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle Indian opium into China illegally, for which they demanded payment in silver. This was then used to buy tea and other goods. By 1839, opium sales to China paid for the entire tea trade

The war ended on 17 August 1842, with the Treaty of Nanking enabling the British to 'carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please'. The treaty committed the Chinese to free trade, including the trade in opium. The ease with which the British had defeated the Chinese armies seriously affected the Qing dynasty's prestige.

The New Deal

1933

USA

a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans

In the short term, New Deal programs helped improve the lives of people suffering from the events of the depression. In the long run, New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to play a key role in the economic and social affairs of the nation.

fascist corporatism

1920’s- 1930’s

Italy, Germany

Economic system that emphasized state control over private companies and industries serving as the means of production. A national council settled disputes over labor, wages, capital, and natural resources. Theoretically, this style of economics united the interests of the state, workers, and employers and minimized the influence of labor unions.

Mussolini and Hitler employed these tactics to unify their states through nationalist principles and economic manipulation. The interests of the state economy superceded the interests of individuals in fascist economies.

Five Year Plan

1920’s-

1940’s

USSR

one of a continuing series of Soviet governmental programs designed to achieve usually specified goals in the planned, coordinated, and cumulative development of the Soviet economy and other sectors of Soviet life (as education and science) over a period of five years

In the Soviet Union the first Five-Year Plan (1928–32), implemented by Joseph Stalin, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods. The second Five-Year Plan (1933–37) continued the objectives of the first. Collectivization, coupled with other Stalinist policies, led to terrible famines that caused the deaths of millions of people. The man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932–33, known as the Holodomor, has been recognized as an attempted genocide against the Ukrainian people. The third Five-Year Plan (1938–42) emphasized the production of armaments. The fourth (1946–53) again stressed heavy industry and military buildup, angering the Western powers.

The Great Depression

1929-1930’s

Started in the USA, spread globally

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors

Real GDP fell 29% from 1929 to 1933.

The unemployment rate reached a peak of 25% in 1933.

Consumer prices fell 25%; wholesale prices plummeted 32%.

Some 7,000 banks, nearly a third of the banking system, failed between 1930 and 1933.

Ronald Reagan

President from 1981-

1989

USA

40th president of the United States (1981–89), noted for his conservative Republicanism, his fervent anticommunism, and his appealing personal style, characterized by a jaunty affability and folksy charm. The only movie actor ever to become president, he had a remarkable skill as an orator that earned him the title “the Great Communicator.” His policies have been credited with contributing to the demise of Soviet communism.

Through an increased military buildup and a more assertive foreign policy, the Reagan administration sought to end the Cold War. Ultimately, this stronger interventionist U.S. policy, coupled with economic trouble and political changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, brought the Cold War to an end.

Margaret Thatcher

Served as Prime Minister from 1979-1990

Great Britain

British Conservative Party politician and prime minister (1979–90), Europe’s first woman prime minister. The only British prime minister in the 20th century to win three consecutive terms and, at the time of her resignation, Britain’s longest continuously serving prime minister since 1827, she accelerated the evolution of the British economy from statism to liberalism and became, by personality as much as achievement, the most renowned British political leader since Winston Churchill.

To her supporters, she was a revolutionary figure who transformed Britain's stagnant economy, tamed the unions and re-established the country as a world power. Together with US presidents Reagan and Bush, she helped bring about the end of the Cold War.

Deng Xiaoping

China

Chinese leader from 1979-1989

Chinese communist leader who was the most powerful figure in the People’s Republic of China from the late 1970s until his death in 1997. He abandoned many orthodox communist doctrines and attempted to incorporate elements of the free-enterprise system and other reforms into the Chinese economy.

Deng Xiaoping engineered important reforms in almost all aspects of China’s political, economic, and social life. Most notable among his reforms were China’s one-child policy, the institution of decentralized economic management and rational and flexible long-term planning, the strengthening of China’s trade and cultural ties with the West, and allowing foreign investment in Chinese enterprises.

Augusto Pinochet

Chile

1974-1990

leader of the military junta that overthrew the socialist government of Pres. Salvador Allende of Chile on September 11, 1973. Pinochet was head of Chile’s military government (1974–90). During his dictatorial reign tens of thousands of opponents of his regime were tortured.

Many Chileans are divided on the topic of their former dictator. Some say they see him as a savior who rescued them from the socialist policies of Allende and who did what had to be done in a turbulent time to prevent anarchy and communism. They point to the growth of the economy under Pinochet and claim he was a patriot who loved his country.

Others say he was a ruthless despot directly responsible for thousands of murders, in most cases for no more than thought crimes. They believe his economic success was not all it seemed because unemployment was high and wages were low during his rule.

World Trade Organization

Global

Created in 1995

the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.

The WTO has been a force for globalization, with both positive and negative effects.

Big businesses tend to support the WTO for its positive impact on international economic growth.

Skeptics see it as increasing the wealth gap and hurting local workers and communities.

NAFTA

USA, Mexico, Canada

Signed in 1992

established a free-trade zone in North America (USA, Mexico, Canada); NAFTA immediately lifted tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the signatory nations

Some of the positive effects of NAFTA were increased trade, economic output, foreign investment, and better consumer prices. U.S. jobs were lost when domestic manufacturers relocated to lower-waged Mexico, which also suppressed wages in U.S. manufacturing plants

ASEAN

Southeast Asia

Formed in 1967

It is an intergovernmental organization of ten Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam

The group has played a central role in Asian economic integration, joining negotiations to form the world’s largest free trade agreement and signing six free trade deals with other regional economies.