The Black Death: Turning Point In World Trade

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The Black Death, one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, is a watershed in the history of Europe, and it is also an important turning point in world trade. Before and after the Black Death, great changes have taken place in world trade, including the changes of trade volume, varieties of trade goods and trade routes. In addition, we know that the trade between Europe and Asia, whose development is the essential part of globalization, is always the most important part of the international trade. So understanding the changes of trade between Europe and Asia can help us easily understand the changes of world trade. In this paper, I will focus on the changes of trade routes between Europe and Asia before and after the Black Death.…show more content…
They made specific oversea trade management regulations and even stained troops along the Silk Road to keep the safety of caravans. The Pax Mongolia made the Silk Road the safe and convenient trade routes and improved the prosperity of trades between Europe and Asia. That was the general situation at that time. 2.2 The Black Death: Changes of trade routes and the reasons There were some possible reasons for the changes of trade routes between Europe and Asia in the 14th century. And the Black Death was the very important one of them. We can understand this from two different prospects. Firstly, the Black Death greatly reduced the population, which meant the fall of total production and less commercial activities. In Europe, the Black Death firstly infected the Black Sea port of Kaffa and then spread to other places of Europe mostly through trades. The following picture shows the spread of the Black Death. During the outbreak of the Black death, it is estimated that more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the total population died. The following picture shows the fall of population that…show more content…
There a story went like this: [ A Splendid Exchange - How Trade Shaped the World, P177, William Bernstein.]A merchant galley, that had probably started with a complement of hundreds, arrived at Rhodes from parts unknown with just thirteen merchants, then sailed on to Cyprus; when it arrived there, only four remained alive. It was obvious that the old trade structure, including trade routes, was unable to continue. Apart from the Black Death, the decline of the Mongolian and the rise of the Ottoman Empire were also the reasons why the old trade routes couldn’t continue any more. The fall of the Yuan Dynasty and the decline of the four Khanate marked the Mongolian lost the control of central Asia, which meant that the Silk Road was not safe or convenient any more. The old Silk Road inevitably declined again. The recession of Western Europe because of the Black Death and the decline of Timurid Dynasty, the Ottoman Empire got stronger and became a strong Empire, which cross the Asia, Europe and Africa. The Ottoman Empire took the control of the Red sea and the Persian Gulf, blocking European merchants who wanted to sail to the Orient. The trade routes by sea also became
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