World history/WHME101/Global trade/Commodities and commerce

Reading

Read Chapter one of the below volume. As you read, consider the following questions:

• What commodities were traded during this period?
• What commodities were desired by Western Europeans?
• What did they offer merchants in the East in exchange?
• Was the trade equal, or one-sided?
• How did trade networks develop over this period?

Shafaat Khan, The East India Trade in the XVIIth Century: In Its Political and Economic Aspects, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1923, pp. 1-92.

Were you surprised by the leading commodities traded during this period? Share your thoughts with fellow students on WEnotes below. For example:

• The importance of spices ...
• Saltpetre ...

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