From David Landes’s book (1999) I chose to review chapter 12 ‘Winners and Losers: The Balance Sheet of Empire’, Abacus, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, London, pp. 168-185. Firstly, I will explain the reasons behind the decline and rise of some empires in the 18th century, analysing the period between the start of the Age of Discovery and the Industrial Revolution. Further on, I will analyse the influence of Religion: Protestantism in the expansion of Capitalism and Catholicism in the demise of former prosperous economies. The empires that started the Age of Discovery, Spain and Portugal, ended up big losers; they had too much money and instead of saving and investing, they spent it. The Iberian Peninsula didn’t invest in industry or in
This influenced colonisation of North America due to the fact that population growth threatened to undermine the existing social order as the government did not know how to cope with the growing number of people and they struggled to find places for people to work without causing social disorder. It was important at this time for countries to mobilise economic resources so that all resources could be narrowly focused on a common goal, such as industrial or commercial expansion. That strength of the western European states which could be mobilised lay in conditions that permitted the growth, on the foundation of initially landlord and peasant economies, of industries, trading activities and services whose productivity was relatively high and which in favourable circumstances could originate innovations in technique or organisation or effect regular capital accumulation. The western European countries all experienced rapid population growth until the end of the 16th century. The growth of population, supported by more abundant money supply, was at the base of an economic expansion that was general during the 16th century.
Spain earned a lot through trading with China. Written by Tomás de Mercado in manual of deals and contracts, it represented that in order to but the products in China, they had to pay a high price which ruined the economy and let silver flowed out of Spanish Empire. Moreover, some of the goods that Spain bought were stones (Document 3). Besides the economy, mining silver required huge amount of labors to work extremely hard. Represent in Document 6, there were more 3000 Indian workers worked hard everyday to mine the silver.
Prior to the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, there were multiple empires growing to astonishing amounts of power on different sides of the earth. In the undiscovered Western Hemisphere, the great empire of the Aztecs were growing to considerable size and power; single handily controlling regional trade. In the highly active Eastern Hampshire, the powerful empire of Songhai was quickly becoming one of the strongest and wealthiest West African empires in history. The success of these empires came from a strong combination of historic prospectives, but those which helped define their legacies were a combination of: physical, capital, state action and ideas. Through analyzing these perspectives, there is a considerable finding that there are many similarities and differences between each empire that account for many years of regional power.
In chapter 1 of Discovering Our Past: The American Journey, by Glencoe, the main idea is exploration and its impact on the Americas. Clearly, exploration made a huge impact on the world by discovering new places, finding new routes, and riches. Portugal and Spain unleashed a new era of exploration by searching for sea routes to Asia by ship, Portugal mainly started the “Age of Exploration” because a sailor named Bartholomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa which was new land to them and a little while after, Vasco da Gama found the “long awaited” Sea route to Asia which inspired other people to sail as well. Other people had different goals while exploring the sea, like Ferdinand Magellan who was the leader of the first crew to sail around the world.
Spain, Egland, France, and Portugal capitalized on the Americas in order to gain Imperialist growth. These countries sought imperial growth to gain riches, spread their religious beliefs, and exploit natural resources and natives.(31) A great example of how the Europeans Imperialistic growth benefited their country is Spains conquest in the early 1600's. During which time they used Native labor to mine gold and silver that filled their ships. They also sent priest to spread catholicism to their conquered Natives.
Furthermore, Europe had established a large-scale economic system which over time contributed to Europe’s increasing economy. Europe at the time had nothing special to export, so the managing between trade and competition that was occurring between nations within Europe and big contributors like India, China, and Southeast Asia resulted to lots of wealth. In other words, competition between nations and city-states allowed there to be a great motivation to wanting more gold and silver, which was thrived for. So the use of markets and continuous technological advances allowed the competition to grow, which led to motivation, which lastly led to more income right in Europe's pocket. Flourishing in wealth gave Europe another great source of power and focus.
Not only did these lands allow the production of familiar goods, they also introduced exchange, like the Columbian Exchange, where new crops, animals, culture, and disease were transferred between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia. Equally important was the theme of colonization and exploration; many countries, especially the ones of Western Europe, set sail to find new lands to conquer or colonize. They even set up enclaves in areas where strong control was unobtainable and established trading companies, like the Dutch East India Company. This theme led to the end of the America’s isolation and established a system of international inequality, where many areas depended on economically strong nations who made profits through their control. One last noticable difference of the world economy of the 16th and 17th centuries was the profit-making techniques; the new land allowed the expansion of the production of cash crops, which led to increased slaveholding and ultimately the slave trade, which provided unfree
The politicians of the 1800 's were a whole new breed of men because a centralized government was no longer a threat as the previous generation had experienced (Schultz, Mays, Winfree, 2010). The Democratic-Republican Party, led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, now favored policies that would encourage economic growth other than the agricultural policies of the Jefferson era. The party now wanted to recreate the national banking system, make a national internal improvement, and to raise tariffs on imported goods. The Second National Bank was established in 1816 with the support of Calhoun, the southern and the western congressmen. While northern representatives, New England Federalists, opposed the bank, a reversal of party beliefs.
Within the context of the period 1474-1598 to what extent did Ferdinand and Isabella lay the foundations for a Spanish ‘golden age’ in the 16th Century? Within the period of 1474 and 1598, it can be argued that Ferdinand and Isabella did lay significant foundations for a Spanish ‘golden age’ in the 16th Century, through their political, religious and economic policies, such as the sponsorship of the voyages of discovery. These may have in turn created stability and security, which could have formed the foundations for a golden age. A golden age is considered to be a flourishing period in the history of a nation and whether a time like this actually occurred in Spain in the 16th Century has been widely speculated. This is because whether the
The Spanish Bourbon family came into rule of Spain and its New Spain colonies with the crowning of Philip V in 1713 (Meyer, et al 2010). This crowing brought with it new political reforms from the Spanish Bourbons to try and recover their control over New Spain. At this point, Philip V had to begin to replenish the distraught nation of Spain. The last of the Spanish Hapsburg lineage, Charles II, had neglected his country and saw it wither to close despair before his death in 1700 (Lecture Notes). What the Bourbon crown did economically was open areas for silver to be extracted more easily in New Spain soil, it made sure the church was again under their control, and it instigated a new political ruling class.
At the start of the 18th century Britain begun to explore foreign lands to expand the breadth of its empire further than its present conquests. The reasons for Britain’s newfound desire to expand its empire are numerous and varied, but can be categorized into three groups: economic, religious and military. It is important to first understand these broad reasons for Britain’s expansionist objectives because they underscore how it was that they came to become, by the early nineteenth century, the largest empire in the world. Economic, religious and military constructs of the British empire are especially clear in Linda Colley’s historical biography, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh, where the characters present in Marsh’s life, including herself, come in contact with Britain’s imperialist endeavors. By telling the story of Elizabeth Marsh, Colley is able to tell the story of others greatly affected by globalization and British imperialism both positively and negatively.
The fortune of Andrew Carnegie can be difficult to comprehend. Its growth was rapid, rising and endless. This kind of fortune seems desirable to many men, so naturally his success has been tried to replicate. But because the accumulation of wealth is so complex because of an ever-changing market results are varied. Experts today still cannot come to a consensus on what allowed a man with next to nothing could gain such wealth.
Modern day America is an economic superpower. However, one and a half centuries ago, this was not the case. In the late 1800’s there was a large boom in terms of population and industrialization in the United States. From this stemmed many new technological innovations, innovations which could be applied to the creation of alluring products for the masses. This led to the rise of a prominent American consumer culture, which was a driving force in the great economic growth of the Gilded Age.
One of the many Gospel of Wealth advocates was Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919, who was an industrialist who emigrated from Scotland to American in 1848 (Wall, ANBO). Carnegie’s “Wealth” written in 1889
‘‘Napoleon is not defeated in the battle of Waterloo but a financial war’ is a book written by the Kimura Jiro, who is the pre-minister of Japan. Even though the title of this book seems like it is all about Napoleon, in fact, the author is only employed Napoleon’s story to prove his ideas. First, all the history facts happen are all because of money. Second, the two main reasons of why a country is powerful are an accurate tax system and people are happy. Thus, another name of this book is ‘ Understand world history by the flow of money.”