https://padlet.com/Alina_Yarmoshchuk/ws4wklxmg2tg4i34 Topic: Brief summary of the socio-economic situation of a range of regions before the contact with Europeans and after during the European expansion. en-us 2022-03-08 18:03:47 UTC 2023-10-19 15:07:23 UTC hello@padlet.com Alina_Yarmoshchuk https://padlet.com/Alina_Yarmoshchuk/ws4wklxmg2tg4i34/wish/2084554714 The Middle East before the beginning of the European expansion was already acting as a gateway between European and Eastern worlds, where, despite the long history of bloody wars, the economic interchange was relatively developed, resulting in the trading economy between the two worlds, which could be clearly seen from the numerous extensive trade networks, centers of learning, and bustling cities.

China could be considered the largest and most powerful civilization of the 15 century, being a world leader in the field of technologies and inventions. At the beginning of the Mings rule, several long-range trading voyages were launched reaching as far as the eastern coast of Africa, however, owing to a set of implications of foreign and domestic policy, for a long time after these voyages China almost completely stopped any engagement with the outside world and fell behind compared to the expansion trend in Europe.

Similarly, India also possessed an ancient civilization with considerable economic wealth and military might, however, unlike China, its political economy was characterized as more diverse and decentralized. Although India as well as other civilizations mentioned above engaged in maritime activity, it did not have a significant influence on political power.

African political economy of that time was primarily characterized by three factors. First of all, there was a significant variation among regions, owing to different ecological features, which resulted in the production of different goods and services. Secondly, over the period of the beginning of European expansion commercial activity shifted with the fall of old commercial centers and the rise of new ones. Thirdly, the famine and drought were considered to be " limits of growth", which often disrupted the economic activity, spurring technical innovations and limiting consistent development.

The Americas were an advanced civilization, characterized by intensive agriculture activity and large cities with complicated architecture. The native Americas demonstrated an ability to build and maintain large cities, construct large monuments, and support sophisticated forms of arts, however, in terms of economic trade activity, they faced great transportation difficulties and their exchange of goods was primarily in the form of tribute.

With the beginning of the European expansion, the Euro-American political economy could be described as mercantilist and imperialist, since the whole economic activity was extremely unequal, designed to increase the wealth and power of Europe, using the Americas as a resource. European expansion in the Americas could also be considered responsible for the destruction of the native population, owing to a combination of European diseases, livestock, and force of arms.

The European expansion in Africa was similar in terms of mercantilist and imperialist trends and could be explained by the triangular trade activity, when Europeans manufactured goods, then exchanged them for slaves in Africa, used these slaves as a cheap labor force to work on the plantations and in mines, while the products of this labor were later exported at a great profit to Europe and beyond.

The expansion on the territories of Asia was at first less successful, as Asian empires were often larger, more densely populated, and more productive, than European countries. However, British Empire eventually succeded in subjugating India, reorganizing their economy to be a resource for the English warfare and conquests, and later managed to open China's market as a result of the victory in the Opium War, which ended up being a disaster for China and its economy.

Summing up everything that has been stated so far, it could be concluded that it was an extremely mercantilist era, when European intercontinental trade was going along with the seizure of the territories and the use of it and local people exclusively as the resources for further conquest and warfare.]]> 2022-03-08 18:04:12 UTC https://padlet.com/Alina_Yarmoshchuk/ws4wklxmg2tg4i34/wish/2084554714