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- Essay Name : 995.txt
- Uploader :
- Email Address :
- Language : English
- Subject : History
- Title : The Commercial Revolution
- Grade : 92
- School System : parochial
- Country : USA
- Author Comments : FACTUAL
- Teacher Comments : Good analogies
- Date : 11/13/96
- Site found at : homepage
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- The European Exploration established many colonies in Africa and the Americas.
- A new reservoir of revenue became readily avenue sparking the Commercial Revolution.
- Raw materials, gold, and other precious metals poured into Europe, eventually becoming
- manufactured goods. Slaves became a source of cheap labor and many Europeans spread
- Europe's economic policies when they settled in the colonies. Mercantilism, which stated
- that a colony's purpose was to benefit the mother country, shaped Europe during
- throughout the revolution.
- From 1492 to 1870 a new gold-salt and silk trade were established, creating an
- international economy. Most of the gold and salt came from Africa while Asia was the
- major silk exporter. New business rules were because of the influx of money. Joint-stock
- companies, as well as insurance companies, were created. Joint-stock ventures were now
- insured for damages that any of their ships suffered. There was a new banking system,
- becoming more prominent than the system set up by the Medicis during the early 1400s.
- Gold and silver coins were replaced by paper currency and bank credits were being
- introduced. The stockmarket was born, drawing its life force from joint-stock companies
- and their speculations. Monopolies arose when joint-stock companies incorporated with
- each other. Some of the European companies tried to stop the rise of monopolies.
- England passed the Bubble Act restricted the rights of joint-stock companies to
- incorporate with each other. Economic competition found a new intensity which it never
- had before. The economic bourgeoisie rose to power through entrepreneurial business.
- Social and political revolutions, as well as the Industrial Revolution, planted the roots of
- modern capitalism.
- The Commercial Revolution continued into the 1900s with the spark of European
- Imperialism. The "Mad scramble for Africa" could best be related to bees in the spring.
- In the spring, flowers start blooming causing the bees to rapidly drink up their nectar. In
- the same way, the Age of Exploration and Commercial Revolution were the springboards
- of the "Mad scramble". European countries went into the exterior of the blossoming
- continent and began tapping into its nectar: natural resources. Third world countries came
- into existence while European countries fought over trade agreements and resources.
- London became the financial capital of the world.
- Post War World II saw the last of colonial empires fall. Conglomerates became
- the new empires of modern society. Nations had to play by conglomerate rules. A
- materialistic society became even more dependent on the economy. Many third world
- nations were suffering while Asian countries started to manufacture more goods, shifting
- jobs away from many European nations. Economic competition was heated. In 1993 and
- 1994 the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement and General Agreement on Trade and
- Tariff were passed to help ease these economic tensions. They lowered tariffs and set up
- quotas allowing for trade with less trouble. The domestic system, created at the beginning
- of the revolution, had finally became the dominant policy of Europe but the rest of the
- world.
- The Commercial Revolution lasted from the 1400s to present times. It gave rise to
- mercantilism and eventually planted the seeds that would rid many countries of
- communism. The face of Europe was changed forever when the Commercial Revolution
- provided the capital that was needed to start the Industrial Revolution. Today, the
- Commercial Revolution is still strong with the introduction of Silicone Valley, the era of
- the information highway, and the world of computers.
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