Chapter 15: Global Commerce

So my Spanish-sounding last name goes back to when the Portuguese entered India?!

The Portuguese devised a plan to travel East into Asia to become somewhat leaders of global commerce: to discover and obtain the most goods and riches before any other European. The Portuguese attempt was done with the use of violence. The text states that a fair trade was not possible because of the lack of valuables they had: “…European trade goods were crude and unattractive in Asian markets.” Without their strong military, the Portuguese would have gotten nowhere.

They bombarded a few cities in Southeast Asia that were accessible. Soon, they claimed leaders of commerce in Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India. However, this didn’t last long and it came to the point where the Portuguese were not able to sell their goods.

I think it was a little karma. At some point, they were somewhat leaders of Asian commerce. However, they got there with violence. “…by burning and sacking the city, killing some 1,500 people, and seizing large quantities of cotton and silk textiles, and carpets. Because they did some wrong, they paid for it by not being able to get far in their trading post empire.

In order to compete with Portugal, Spain traveled to the Philippine Islands where they soon established colonial rule, introduced Christianity, taxes, and tribute. The establishment of Spain in the Philippines was a success and soon, the Philippines became a bowl of diversity attracting Chinese and Japanese traders, artisans, and sailors. Spain invading the Philippine Islands contributes to the reasoning behind why so many Filipinos have such Spanish-sounding surnames and claim to be some fraction of Spanish descent. It was to compete with Portugal who was at the time advancing in global trade.

Side note: The text says that the “Philippine Islands” was derived from the Spanish King Phillip II. What the original name was for the archipelago before Spain invaded?

Since Portugal basically failed, the Dutch and English tried to replace the Portuguese in Asia. After reading this section, I kind of felt sorry for Portugal. They worked hard to come up with the plan to travel to India and ended up struggling to stay at the top of global commerce. However, it was an opportunity for the Dutch and English. It’s like shopping. You have a hard time deciding whether to buy this certain item of clothing…and there’s only one of these items left. For a split second, you change your mind, put it back on the rack. Then BOOM someone else seizes the opportunity and snatches it so they can purchase the item.

Global Commerce I think was just that. It was all about seizing opportunity and timing: being at the right place at the right time.