worldhistory
East Africa, Arabia, India, Southeast Asia, China
Goods
Pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon -> Europe
Chinese silk, Indian cottons, rhubarb, gems -> Europe
Silver from Mexico and Bolivia to Asia
European woolens and later tea and coffee move in growing volume
Portuguese
Armed ships with cannon secure sea lanes
Mombasa, Hormuz, Goa, Malacca, Macao
Policy: cartaz pass, block Red Sea route
Goal: control commerce, not large land
Never more than half of spice trade, decline after 1600
Spain in the Philippines
Island chiefdoms, small armies, tribute ties -> China
Easy conquest with guns and local allies
Mass conversion to Catholicism
Manila grows to a mixed city, many Chinese traders, repeated violence
Dutch and English East India Companies
Joint-stock, royal charters, trade monopolies, private armies
Dutch focus on Indonesia, seize Banda, force nutmeg monopoly, great profit, local ruin
British focus on India, bases at Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, buy access with gifts, shift to cotton textiles
By the late 1700s, Dutch rule Indonesia, British rule India