History of World Trade

(4 Credits)

Focuses on the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the Mediterranean, Europe’s Atlantic coast, and the Baltic Sea. The 17th and 18th centuries saw long-distance commerce move to the center of state policy, and in the 19th century bred exploitive colonial systems buoyed by trade. Global war traumatized international trade in the 20th century but ultimately gave rise to our world of supertankers, giant container ships, global air freight, and monetary transfers at the speed of light.