Trade and the Global Economy

What is it about?

This article looks at various dimensions of early-modern global economy. To shed some light on this complex process, this contribution will examine the broad outlines of economic change as well as consider a few illustrative examples to provide a window into this evolution. It will begin with a discussion of the expanding trade routes around the globe following the fifteenth century as seen in three individual experiences, then discuss the growing regulation of economic structures as various European countries attempted to guide the expansive pathways into more regular channels to maximize government profits, and end with a brief consideration of a few of the new ‘global’ commodities to illustrate the divergent pathways that became part of the world economy.

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Why is it important?

Early-modern globalization shaped the modern world. By the nineteenth century, both Europeans and their governments had been fundamentally changed by the expansion of the global economy in ways large and small, leaving no one unaffected.