Janet Abu-Lughod's book "Before European Hegemony" is about the global interactions in the period of 1250 to 1350 AD. By outlining the complex system of trade she shows the even before Europe, the civilization we typically associate with globalized events, a matrix of connections existed connecting the world.
Interestingly, the first connections between different countries always seem to deal with trade (nowadays it might be research, or sharing information in addition to trade). Early on, it seems like countries were not very diverse in the range of goods they offered. The spice trade was a big deal, but from a modern perspective it seems bizarre that there would be so much fuss and demand for new spices. I guess when something is totally new to you it is just so much more desirable and intriguing. There was an attitude in this time period, or rather a mindset, of exploration to find totally new and foreign things and then trade for them.
What interests me is the spread of disease by all of this trade, like the Black Death. I bet that just as historians can outline trade they could outline disease dispersion, and the two outlines would probably look very similar. When people that have been isolated from each other for so long finally make contact they exchange so many specialized viruses. In the past, when virology was not understood, the death tolls were staggering. Do you think if people understood virology at the time, yet still didn't have the technology to deal with it, that they would have still ventured out to new lands? Would they take the risk of terrible disease?
-Roman H
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The spread of disease most likely having the same outline as the trade outline is very interesting. I think that if they did understand the spread of diseases, they would have been much more cautious of who they were trading with. This could have even caused some disputes with discrimination of trading areas because of worries of disease. Things could have went a completely different direction.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people would have been more cautious in trading if they had known how fast diseases could spread. Having said that, trading would still have advanced throughtout the world. People's desire for luxury items would stiil exist and as long as there was a profit to be made traders would risk their lives to acquire those items.
ReplyDeleteThe correlation of the spread of disease and trade is definitely interesting. I think we might have to consider that our comprehension of how disease spreads in the 21st century is quite different from what was understood in the 13th century. Nevertheless, I do think that even if they understood the manner in which disease spreads, they would definitely continue to travel. I think that even without the knowledge/technologies to reduce the spread of disease, merchants and other participants in the world commerce probably tried to figure out travel routes (and used whatever medical advice available) to minimize the risk. So long as the potential for massive profit exists, people will take the risk.
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