Ch13, 14, 15

“Silver made the world go round” was the phrase that stood out the most in this week’s reading.  As mentioned in Ch 14 Commerce & Consequence (1450-1750), global commerce was the one bandwagon many countries wanted to jump on.  As with many lucrative markets, the Europeans and North Americans always jumped in on the action to get a piece of the pie.  Fur, silver, textiles, spices pretty much sums up the most lucrative goods to move through commerce in this time frame.  But in this time frame, I don’t blame them for wanting to enjoy the finer things in life.  Can you imagine the smell of chocolate, teas, coffee, sugar, spices and whiskey all in one century? That was a pretty tasty and delightful time frame to be living in.  Everything gets resolved with chocolate.  Well at least for my taste buds it does.  Not so fortunate were the poor animals that were hunted for fur and led to extinction for the greed of men.  But the greed of men also came with a price-the price that no one can put on anybody and at the expense of others-slavery. 

I recall a family trip to Acapulco, Mexico and in the many tourist avenues were the numerous stands of silver.  Silver jewelry with .925 engraved finely in the back of charms, pendants, and key chains, nonetheless decorated the streets.  I understand how the historical commerce set precedence to this city.  It was cargoed by ship in the hopes to dominate. 

All countries wanted to dominate in the economy and unfortunately the price was set on peoples’ health.  All the goods mentioned brought riches but nothing was as rich as one’s health.  The Europeans carried small pox and influenza to many of the Huron tribes.  This, in addition to the binge drinking and dependency, led to Native Americans' decline in numbers. 

Overall, women were introduced to different aspects of life such as running pawn shops to keep up with the selling and buying of silver and goods.  Women were allowed to bring home some income and generate towards economy also.  Money was one of the languages that all understood; and if that did not work, well at least they could enjoy some chocolate.