King and Kolb

Macie Kolb and Rylee King

Mr. Martin and Mrs. Bennett
Humanities and AP World
22 January 2016
Hegemony, Diplomacy, and Wealth; the Effects and Advantages of International Trade
Across the Atlantic, and the Advances in the Production of Sugar, Tobacco, Fur, and
Silver in the Americas.
Innovations between 1450-1750, also known as the early modern era, stemmed
from an increase in exploration, conquerors, revolutions, and worldwide trade. These
interactions allowed many European countries to increase their boundaries and
hegemonic control in new lands, and set up commercial areas that, over time, established
an economy on the foundation of trade and the production of goods. Although these
innovations may have created an increase in slavery and inequalities, it is quite
irresponsible to ignore the complete economic change resulting from them. These
innovations (newly discovered crops or materials, specifically sugar, fur, tobacco, silver),
helped shape the type of economy in the Americas and establish strong trade within the
Atlantic; thereby, creating international diplomacy and dominance in foreign lands, and a
stable economy in these new settlements, allowing the Europeans to immerse themselves
in the rich rewards of Eurasian exchange and connections.

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Sugar and tobacco plantations, innovations newly introduced during the early modern
era, allowed European colonies to gain presence in East Asia, as their cash crops began to
interest merchants, thus causing them to extend their territory and incorporate more
indigenous people into their societies. The Spanish and Portuguese prominence in East
Asian markets created a newfound trading presence, for they had previously been
excluded due to their inability to satisfy Asians with alluring products. This allowed them
to control the passage of merchandise from Asia to Europe and then on to the Americas
without the intermediaries of Muslims that managed to direct common and often
atrocious goods to Europe, that were not protested by merchants in European markets.
The Plantation Empire: How Sugar and Tobacco Planters Built Their Industries and
Raised an Empire explains how sugar and tobacco were the first commercial successes,
new to the European colonies as there products were often seen of poor quality, of
Englands ventures into the Americas, and how the imports and exports of the products
increased rapidly over the course of a century as the cash crops became apart of
Englands external commerce (Menard 310). The centrality of plantation agriculture, as
these cash crops became more popular, to these European colonies is shown through a
tendency for American inhabitants to live in or near the West Indies or Chesapeake
colonies, both regions dominated by plantations, in order to afford to pay for their,
oftentimes, multiple children. The rich rewards gained by the Europeans after being
incorporated into Asian trade thus allowed them to support for their families, to spend
more time leisurely, and to engage in jobs that were increasingly specialized, as well as
produce more products; however, all previously had been difficult to the Europeans due
to the lack of manufactured goods in the Americas when they first arrived. Likewise, due

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to the Portugueses intense occupation of Brazil and the Caribbean, major areas of sugar
production, the cash crop, produced by Native Americans and Africans, were
significantly incorporated into the Portuguese market enterprise in order to appeal to
Asian merchants, allowing them to buy products necessary to sustain themselves. Not
only did sugar production allow European empires to engage in trade with the
furthermost areas of the world, but it also allowed them to increase their hegemonic
control over the indigenous people of their regions, allowing them to entertain themselves
and care for their health, a renowned and highly valued characteristic of the Middle Ages.
Thus, innovations, especially sugar and tobacco plantations, allowed European countries
to engage further in trade and increase their predominant control over various groups of
people.
Silver and fur, two newly discovered innovations that increased development in
the Americas, allowed the European colonies, specifically Spain and Portugal, to grow in
prominence as silver became a renowned form of currency and fur was identified as a
luxury. The document, How Important Was Silver? Some Evidence on Exchange Rate
Fluctuations and Stock Returns in Colonial-Era Asia, describes Chinas little interest in
Western products, thus forcing them to bring hard currency to Chinese ports in exchange
for tea, silks, porcelain and other commodities (Bailey and Bhaopichtr 140). However,
the Chinese traditional monetary system began to rely heavily on silver bullion, thus,
when silver began to be mined in large quantities in Europe, it allowed them to delve into
the rich markets of Asia as their riches poured from their hands (Bailey and Bhaopichtr
140). The luxurious goods now available to the Europeans, caused them to engage in a
humanitarian effort to advance in literature, art, and architecture, allowing succeeding

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civilizations to expand upon their vast knowledge and causing modern era world trade to
be abundant and enrich hundreds of countries today. Thus, the engagement of Europeans
into world trade through the discovery of silver allowed them to become a world power
as well as a center of pure intelligence as they studied past Greek, Roman, and Arabic
background as well as created a unique Renaissance culture. Furthermore, as the Spanish
began to colonize and interact with the indigenous people of North America, they
encountered Native American hunting patterns as well as the fur of several large animals
that were hunted. As they realized the potential of this fur, a delicacy not common in
Europe, they convinced the Natives to hunt them and provide them with the product, in
exchange for European goods that were brought over from their homeland. This exchange
allowed the Europeans to engage peacefully with Native Americans; causing both to
benefit from the trade due to the manufactured products and accords provided to the
Native Americans and the Spaniards economic prosperity. Thus, the discovery of an
abundance of silver and fur within the Americas allowed the Portuguese and Spanish to
contribute to world trade that enriched many parts of the world, including the Native
Americans, as well as to modern day history as they developed several humanitarian
concepts that are still present today.
In conclusion, without the innovations of fur and silver, and the cultivation of the
cash crops tobacco and sugar, the development of the Americas, both the British, Spanish,
and Portuguese colonies, wouldve advanced very differently. The survival of these
colonies was based solely on their ability to produce these cash crops, and trade with the
Native Americans in the regions, as well as the Asians and other Europeans across the
Atlantic. This trade, generated by newly developed innovations, both agricultural and

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commercial, benefited the Europeans, and other imperial powers, by increasing the riches
that were circulated through Atlantic trade and developing a strong basis for subsequent
empires in the Americas. Although this trade generated an increase in human trafficking
and labor, there is no doubt that a complete economic revolution would not have occurred
otherwise, leaving the economy and overall state of the Americas fragile, and unsettled.
Thus, these innovations (newly discovered crops or materials, specifically sugar, fur,
tobacco, silver), helped shape and provide a strong foundation for a prosperous economy
in the Americas for centuries to follow; as well as created international diplomacy and
dominance in foreign lands, and a stable economy in these new settlements.