Global Trading Systems of the 18th Century - Essay Example

By the year 1700 potatoes and maize had been exported to China from the Americas and these crops would contribute to the increasing population in China during the 1700s. This increase in population resulted in China's immense increase in a demand for silver and gold fed by the production of the mines that the Spanish had conquered 200 years earlier from the Aztecs and Incas. Some of the metal would be moved into Asia by way of the Philippines where Spain had established a colony in 1571. However, most of these metals would usually not flow directly into China, but rather through a complex global trading system.

The silver and gold would be shipped to Spain where Spain would use it to finance their military, exploratory, and war expeditions. Dutch armament and shipbuilders often supplied these endeavors. The precious metals would make their way from the Dutch and into the hands of European bankers that would finance further trade missions into China and the Indian Ocean. Here the gold and silver would be traded for the exotic cloth, spices, and gems prized by the Europeans and the colonists in the Americas.

The slave trade was also instrumental in the increasing production of other key agricultural products, most notably sugar and tobacco. The initial expansion of the slave trade into the Americas resulted in marginally cheaper sugar and tobacco though it had no great direct economic impact on the British economy at the time. However, with the further increase in the slave trade, and the growing plantation environment for producing agricultural products, tobacco and sugar were able to reach an economy of scale and become profitable on the world market.

Once again, there is a complex set of trading partners that promoted the movement of products and wealth around the globe. Agricultural products and raw materials such as foodstuffs and timer were taken to England and distributed throughout Europe and Asia. Finished goods from Europe and Asia were taken to Africa and traded for slaves. These slaves would be transported to the America's to supply the labor for the production of the agricultural goods. Sugar had a significant impact on trade in during the 18th century.

There was a high demand for sugar in England and Europe, but there was also another trading system that supplied the demand for Rum. Sugar and molasses would be transported from the Caribbean to the American colonies. Here it would be distilled into rum. The rum would be shipped to Africa where it would be traded for slaves to be shipped to the plantations in the Caribbean. During this time, the Americans and British merchants were accumulating wealth from these transactions. Tobacco also contributed to this production of wealth through yet another trading system.

By the 18th century, tobacco was being produced on plantations by slave labor in the Americas. The tobacco would flow through Europe and into China where the Spanish had introduced it. The tobacco would be exchanged for tea in China as well as other prized Chinese goods. The tobacco trade routes were another British example of exploiting agriculture and slave labor to stimulate a complex global trade system. In conclusion, the Spanish invasion of Mexico and South America was important for the gold and silver it produced as well as the agricultural products that were to follow.

The use of precious metals allowed products