Trading Tastes Commodity and Cultural Exchange to 1750

by Gilbert, Erik T.; Reynolds, Jonathan T.

• ISBN13: 9780131900073
• ISBN10: 0131900072
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-20
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Trade and commerce have been primary forces in the dynamics of world history since before the dawn of agriculture. For better and for worse, trade has been a major factor in the exchange of foreign products, ideas, belief systems, modes of artistic expression, and even flora and fauna.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD	x
SERIES EDITOR'S PREFACE	xii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xv
ABOUT THE AUTHORS	xvii
INTRODUCTION	1	(22)
Trade	1	(1)
Why Trade?	2	(3)
Merchants	5	(3)
Trade and Commerce	8	(5)
Periodization	11	(1)
Trade Systems	12	(1)
Why Spice?	13	(2)
Why Salt?	15	(3)
Why Sugar?	18	(2)
Why Silk?	20	(2)
Connected Commodities	22	(1)
1 THE SPICE TRADE	23	(32)
The Spice Paradox	23	(5)
Pepper	24	(2)
Cloves	26	(1)
Nutmeg	27	(1)
Cinnamon	27	(1)
The First Global Foods	28	(1)
The Spice Trade in Classical Times	28	(2)
The Spice Trade and Cross-cultural Interaction in the Classical Period	30	(5)
Romans in India	31	(1)
The Indianization of Southeast Asia	32	(3)
The Spice Trade in the Age of Islam	35	(2)
Cross-cultural Interaction in the Age of Islam	37	(2)
Europeans in the Indian Ocean	39	(16)
2 THE SALT TRADE	55	(29)
Introduction: China and West Africa	55	(1)
Salt in China	56	(1)
Chinese Salt Production	57	(3)
Salt and Governmental Power	60	(4)
Consequences of the Salt Monopoly	64	(1)
Salt in West Africa	64	(11)
West Africa's Sources of Salt	65	(3)
The Structure of the Trade	68	(2)
Salt and Cultural Change in the Savannahs	70	(3)
New Sources of Salt	73	(2)
Conclusions: Salt and Culture in China and West Africa	75	(9)
3 SUGAR AND SLAVERY	84	(28)
Sugar Cane and Sweet Foods	84	(4)
The Origins of the Plantation Complex	88	(6)
Sugar in the New World	94	(3)
Slavery and Sugar	97	(5)
Conclusion	102	(10)
4 THE SILK TRADE	112	(28)
Silk Production	112	(4)
Silk in China	116	(6)
Origins of the Silk Road	122	(3)
Roman Silk	125	(2)
Silk Production Outside of China	127	(13)
Silk and the Salvation Religions	128	(12)
5 MAKING CONNECTIONS: HOW MUCH HAVE THINGS CHANGED?	140	(12)
Commerce Circa 1750	140	(12)
A Final Question	142	(1)
Modernity	142	(2)
The Age of Industry	144	(3)
A Twentieth-Century Turning Point?	147	(1)
The Age of the Shipping Container	147	(4)
Contemporary Information Technology	151	(1)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	152	(5)
INDEX	157