CHAPTER 17

Hemispheric Exchange

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: The period from 1450 to 1750 was one of increased global exchange. While some regions
such as China gradually withdrew from long-distance trade, the volume of trade in the Indian Ocean
increased with the entry of Europeans into waters that already saw bustling commercial activity
among Indian, Muslim, and African peoples. To the trade of the Eastern Hemisphere were added vast
interchanges between the Eastern and Western hemispheres across the Atlantic Ocean.

Key Terms

c apitalism
caravel
Columbian Exchange
factor
Northwest Passage*

Trading Companies

As European nation-states grew more powerful and involved in colonial expansion, their
governments formed trading companies. The governments of Spain, the Netherlands, England, and
France gave regional monopolies to these companies. Among the two most prominent companies
were the British East India Company, which concentrated on trade in India and North America, and the
Dutch East India Company, which focused on trade with Indonesia. With the origin of the great
trading companies came increased consumption of Eastern products such as coffee, tea, and sugar.
The growth of trade and commerce fostered the growth of capitalism , an economic system that is
based on the private ownership of property and on investments with the hope of profit.