Dbq- Trade

In the times of the early modern world, there was an increase in desire for new goods and resources, which led countries to explore different lands. More trade routes were made, allowing trade to erupt all around the world. Trade became an important force of change and had many effects on society and foreign relations. From 1300-1800 many European countries wanted to expand and make their lands more bountiful with more resources and goods from other places. Countries wanted what other countries had; for example different types of food and spices.This desire for new goods and resources drove countries to explore new lands and trade with other places so they can attain those things. For example, there was Vasco de Gama of Portugal who travelled to Calicut, India, claiming that he wanted to befriend the ruler of Calicut (document 4). In truth, the reason Vasco de Gama came to India was because he knew that other countries were bringing goods to India and he was interested in discovering what goods and resources they had.As more trade routes were being made, and more countries were exploring different lands; trade became an important force for change due to the exchanging of different resources and ideas. The Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere each had a lot to offer (document 2) and through the many trade routes that were made through the European sea trade (document 5), a lot of goods were now being exchanged. So a variety of lands now had different food, animals, metals, and diseases.In this new modern world, changes began to happen in different areas; lands were now being exposed to different resources unlike what they were used to because of the different goods and resources they were receiving. Another change that occurred because of this age of exploration and trading is the rising of a new merchant class (document 3). The merchants, not only did the trading of goods and resources but also of ideas. Since trading became so big, the merchants who w ere in charge of it became very wealthy and were always in demand for the goods that they had.These changes stuck in society, and there became a wider variety of goods, resources, and ideas all around the world. Trade provided the world with new resources that they have not seen, which also allowed relationships between countries to interact and improve. For example the letter from the governor of Sijilmasa in southern Morocco, to the king of Ghana in Western Africa (document 1). Even though these two kingdoms are not from the same religion or place, they have put aside their differences and agreed on the issue that merchants should not be imprisoned.Trade has let completely different people interact and communicate humanly even though they are not the same. Another example is what Pope Innocent III granted to Venice (document 6). Under normal circumstances the pope did not allow Venice to trade with Muslim because they were at war with them, but due to critical conditions, an accep tion was made, to allow the people of Venice to live well. Venice was now allowed to trade with the Muslims, so the relationship between those two lands were mended slightly due to this.In general because of the European sea trade and all the trade routes that there were, countries were forced to interact more with each other, so just in that aspect itself it improved relationships between countries, different lands, and leaders themselves. In the 1300’s to the 1800’s, goods and resources became more desirable so trade routes flourished throughout the European sea trade. Trade introduced new resources and ideas to different countries and lands, and came up with a new merchant class. It improved different countries relationships with each other and helped countries interact better.