Trade in the Old World

In "Before European Hegemony" Abu-Lughod makes the argument that global trade was more developed than most people think. She begins by explaining that merchants in the old world would travel among empires in places like the Middle East, China and Europe trading goods. This continued for many years up into the 13th century. After this the cities of the Champagne Fairs is described and discussed. These cities were on the forefront of global trade due to their textile production. Next the cities of Flanders and their textile trade is discussed. From these cities merchants purchased textiles and took them to larger markets in other cities around the world. Eventually this market grew too large and these cities could no longer support the demand. Once this happened other countries such as England took some of the strain off the market and began producing textiles. Also some of the reasons for the failure of these markets are explained, a few examples are disease, wars, and rulers who did not want outsiders in their lands.

This book so far has been very interesting. I was completely unaware that there was such a large amount of trade that went on in between countries at this time. It is hard to fathom how much more difficult this feat was considering there was no internet, no means of fast transportation or communication. It also amazes me that these merchants were willing to travel for months or sometimes years to distant lands in order to sell their products. They also took very large risks such as encountering bandits on land and pirates and storms on the seas.

A couple of things that stuck out to me as interesting questions are the following. How much do you think merchants actually helped to spread the plague when it could have been more easily contained? Another is how much better off were the merchants for traveling to these distant lands and putting themselves in danger? They must have made a fairly good living in order for the benefits to outweigh the costs but this is not discussed all that much. Finally how much of this trading caused the spread of new and interesting ideas and beliefs? With all of this trading how many different parts of the world were shaped and changed by new ideas that were brought along with the merchants?