week 5

Questions of the week!!
1.       How did the North American and Siberian fur trades differ from each other? What did they have in common?
Let’s start off with how the North American fur trades became a global trade. North America was now facing the expansion of the European growth.  From the Dutch to the British traders, they were all seeking to find areas that they can start looking for fur and deerskins. Ideally the Europeans were not very much into the commercial trappings or hunting for these commodities. The Europeans learned a technique where they waited for the Indians, the Native Americans, to bring over these items to their “coastal settlements or to a trading post in the interior of North America.”  The European merchants were trading guns, blankets, metal tools, rum, brandy, and any other items they had for the fur and deerskin. The need for deerskin was rising with the need of fur because it was used in the leather industry. The Europeans did see the Native Americans as cheap labor force. Native Americans were not paid in silver, but were paid in material items. However, the Siberian fur trade gave Russia a new outlook in the commerce trading. As North America’s supply of fur was depleting, Russia had abundant animals that had fur. It became their “soft gold” which was highly wanted between merchants.  China and Europe had their hands in Russia with private merchants who were buying the fur with gold and silver. As the Russian expansion grew across the Siberia, the Russians decided to impose taxes on males who were between the ages of eighteen to fifty years old. The tax was payable in furs.  The Siberian fur trade was bringing in revenue for the Russians who were dominating as a Russian Empire. On the other hand, what the North American and Siberian fur trade had in common was the consequences of these fur trades. European merchants and traders brought in disease to these foreign lands which started to kill off small populations. The Europeans brought over small pox and influenza to the Huron in North America.  Both sides had their indigenous people very dependent on foreign goods such as alcohol.  Either way the fur trade business did bring in different cultures and goods to foreign lands, but also brought in diseases that the indigenous people were not immune to.

2. What roles did Europeans and Africans play in the unfolding of the Atlantic slave trade?Europeans and Africans at the time shared one common goal which was to make profits through human exchange or purchasing of slaves. The Europeans did not have to go through warfare to capture Africans and make them slaves to be purchased. African elites, merchants, and political elites were all involved with operating a large Atlantic Slave Trade on the coastal side, West Africa. All the Europeans had to do was wait at the coastal lines on their ships or their settlements for the Africans to come and sell off humans as slaves to them.  African authorities were pretty much dealt as an equal to the Europeans and also had the full control over the slave enterprise.  High ranking Africans would take over small societies that had no protection and used what was capture as items to be sold. Africans played such a huge role on entering the slave trade because they were not afraid to sell their own people for foreign goods such as “tobacco, cowrie shells, beads, and Indian textiles.” The greed made neighboring kin ship societies fight each other for domination and control. While doing so, the Europeans had the upper hand in it all. They did not have to do the hard work, but needed to entice these African elites with goods.  Slowly West Africa was becoming the area of high slave trade. Personally just reading this material makes me think of human trafficking. Even till this day, humans are still being sold as sex slaves around the world. The greed of wealth is always on top of mind regardless of the consequences. The Europeans knew what they were doing with the African Elites with all their goods. There are small fables that are talking about how Europeans were so greedy that they would trick African Elites or Captains to their ships for drinks. Once the Africans were drunk, the Europeans would sink their canoes before robbing them and capturing the slaves. This just portrays on how Europeans have thought about how they will use their power in an alluring way. Plus most Africans who were slaves would rather die then leave their native lands which did happen from jumping off ships.