Globalization: Japan, Africa, And Brazil
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the globe was constantly changing. Military, religious and trade expeditions, and perpetually improving transportation technologies expedited the processes of economic, cultural and technological interaction. Japan, Brazil, the West Indies and West Africa were influenced more than most places, and their experiences varied. Some places, like Japan benefited greatly, while others, like West Africa and the West Indies, enjoyed technological and economic advantages but suffered culturally. Finally, Brazil gained almost nothing from its interaction with other communities.
Japan was greatly affected by the interactions it had with its Asian neighbors and travelers from far off lands such as Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and England. Prior to 1400, Japan had lost its imperial structure, and existed as a fragmented amalgamation of loosely tied territories ruled by warlords called daimyos. Therefore, Japan’s economic interaction began over a short distance, between the capital cities of Edo and Kyoto (Edo being the shogun’s administrative capital and Kyoto the imperial capital) (Woy 552). The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History explains that because the shoguns required the daimyos to frequently venture to Edo, the roads and maritime routes were well maintained and constantly utilized. Soon, “commercial traffic developed along these roads” and rice was developed as currency used in transactions between shoguns and daimyos (Woy 552). Economic interaction with European traders was less lucrative. The Earth and Its Peoples states that, “Aside from the brief boom in porcelain exports n the seventeenth century, few Japanese goods went to Europe, and not much from Europe found a market in Japan (Woy 553). The technological impacts of foreign interaction were vast. The Earth and Its Peoples asserts that, “Within thirty years of the arrival of the first Portuguese in 1543, the daimyo were fighting with...
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