Free Essay Sample: Critical Analysis of the European Expansion

China's lack of interest in the shoreline trade gave Europe access to wealth. The Europeans saw Asians' disinterest in venturing past their waters and got motivated to do so. The Europeans first arrived in the Mighul Empire through the seashores. The Europeans built their posts and strong walls in the Mughals. Mughal Empire, unable to fight for their land, began to decline. Europeans began shutting down their product supply from South Asia and China. They began dominating the Asian economy fast and efficiently.

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On the other hand, the Mughal Empire continued to decline; it began losing its political influence and economic wealth. The continuous war between the European countries competing for Asian countries' control also motivated the European expansion desires. Additionally, the Europeans began to source the Asians independently, getting rid of the intermediaries due to their distaste. Therefore, low and noble persons got more opportunities in Asia. Through the spread of Christianity, the Europeans expanded their territories further and fully controlled Asia; the persecuted persons searching for better lives joined them (Strayer,2013).

Qing Dynasties marked the beginning of China's evolution. However, they thought of it as the unity of Eurasia rather than conquest. It made sure that China had better military technology and efficient resources. The Dynasty was also ruled differently from other parts, and used locals as their informants; the Mongol authorities, Buddhists, and Muslim officials (Strayer, 2013). The Mughal Empire was a center of two religions; Islam and Hinduism. Turkish people also benefited from the Empire, the pastoral women were allowed to interact freely with men, and they adopted the Islam religion (Strayer, 2013). In the 17th century, Asia was economically stable. India and China were the highly regarded empires in this era. China's economy was centrally built on silver trade; its large population contributed vastly to the silver work. The most significant contributor to the Indian and Chinese wealth was agriculture. China's agricultural sector was better than the European industry due to its efficient irrigation technology. Both empires highly depended on the wealth and stability that they derived from taxes imposed on agriculture. The manufacturing sector of India and China thrived, so they ignored the offshore trade that eventually led to their collapse. At this time, China was the dominant country, and it rejected King George's request for trade. India, on the other hand, was prominent for its cotton.

Native Americans expanded differently depending on the areas they occupied. The enslaved African American women experienced intrusion differently, violence, starvation, forced labor, and even epidemics. According to Strayer (2013), Women were transferred to various territories to form alliances; for instance, Cortes allied with the Tlaxcala City; he received women as a gift hundreds of black women slaves and eight light-skinned women. The Spanish married many elite women as a form of building a productive relationship. The women reproduced, their daughters were further married to more Spaniards, and finally resided in the Mexican Valley (Strayer, 2013). These women were subject to rape and sexual violence, and their men suffered intimidation for enslaved men due to their inability to protect their women from sexual abuse.

Variations in culture, economy, and political views resulted in many communities in America. Spaniards conquered the Aztecs and Inca, giving them access to wealth and urbanization. In Peru and Mexico, the Spaniards built big cities with universities and churches, a democratic government, and a healthy economy (Strayer, 2013). Their economy mainly depended on agricultural produce, gold, and silver mining. The Spaniards provided their labor regardless of their reducing population instead of engaging in the slave trade. Strayer (2013) states that in the 17th century, the Spaniards formed the Hacienda System that encouraged property owning. The economy's growth eradicated social class differences, gender discrimination, and racism; they embraced the differences, hence the term mestizo.

The Slave trade emerged in different ways; in some places, the slaves were assimilated into their owners' culture; children born in the slave life adopted their parents' lives. Muslim slaves mainly did the house chores while African slaves were subjected to farm duties. In some places, the slaves were given higher ranks, for example, in the military. After most Native Americans died of the European disease, few 'Slavic' looking people (Strayer, 2013). Therefore, Africa became the sole source of slaves for the European sugar plantations and factories. Africans were black, somewhat immune to tropical and European diseases, skilled farmers, cheap, and non-Christians, hence their increased demand by the Europeans (Strayer, 2013). The Europeans expanded the slave trade, and they manipulated the slave sellers to obtain slaves at a lower price, using guns, textiles, and cowry shells. A majority of slaves came from the Western and Southern Africa, presently Mauritius. As a result of the slave trade, the Atlantic world became demographically and economically rich; the slaves were forced to start new lives there. As per Slayer (2013), the African population got higher than the European population until around the 19th century. However, the number of people in Africa drastically reduced during that time. However, Africa benefited from the slave trade; the Americans introduced Maize and manioc, which added calories to their foods (Strayer, 2013). Few women slaves identified an opportunity to acquire wealth and power by marrying European traders, exposing them to politics and business. These relationships also provided commercial networks. Some of these became immensely wealthy, and owned empires, jewelry, and clothing. Countries like Benin also took advantage of the trade to serve their interests; for instance, they ignored engaging in the slave trade, and later in the years, the authorities prohibited the male slave trade (Strayer, 2013).

References

Strayer (2013). Chapter 13: Political Transformation. Empires and Encounters.

Strayer (2013). Chapter 14: Economic Transformations. Commerce and Consequences.