Attitudes of Christianity and Islam Toward Merchants and Trade.

source of trade maps displaying trade wealth in 800 C.E. and 1500 C.E. of Islam and Christianity would

Daily Life through Trade: Buying and Selling in World History. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2013. Print.

It analyzes the interaction between the Chinese, Indians, and Arabs. This chapter examines the trade situation before and after the European invaded. Around 1500, was the first time the trade began and it was one of the greatest generators of the economy. Therefore, it was really important for places like Asia, Africa, and Arabs to get access to the Indian Ocean.

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

At the start of this period in 300 C.E, Afro-Eurasian trade was not very sophisticated. There was some collaboration with cultures in the Mediterranean. European goods were brought to

Trade was a large part in why Islam spread so quickly. Mecca had several trading routes. “By the middle of the sixth century… Mecca was … prosperous and important (Doc A).” They were trading through the two main empires: Byzantine and Persian. East Africa, Spain, India, and China also traded with them. Mecca being at the center of the trading system, they brought in many tourists to see the famous holy shrine. With the help of communication people interested in Islam were also drawn because goods were not just traded, but the Islamic culture as well.

The Crusades and the Mongol invasions greatly affected the trade in the Islamic world, but the Mongols were more open to the idea of trade than the Crusaders. There were many ways the Crusades affected trade. For example, by increasing the demand for Middle Eastern products. This was cause for more production in the Middle East. Also, the Crusades increased the use of money in the Islamic world, and the need for it. Lastly, the Crusades created many new inventions to do with weaponry and war because of trade. This allowed for better chances on the battlefield, and all the new inventions caused the economy to grow because people bought more things as they were now available.

When thinking about the history of the world, one must always consider that merchants as well as trade have played an immerse role in shaping the world as it is today. They are responsible for many of the cross-cultural interactions that we have had in the past. Christianity and Islam, the two predominant religions of the world today, have both grown and spread through merchants and trade also. These two chief religions both have attitudes towards merchants and trade that have either developed or decreased overtime. According to these documents, from up to the year 1500, Christianity went from a negative view of merchants and trade to a positive view while Islam went from a positive view to a negative view, but both sides

From a review of the 7 documents presented, it is clear that Christianity and Islam condemned inequitable trade, which led to many Christians and Muslims to look down upon merchants; however, honest business, especially as a merchant, is honored highly. In fact, the Qur'an compares fair merchants to martyrs which were some of the holiest people of all [D2]. However, many Christian and Muslim believers found most merchants to be dishonest and greedy. A Christian scholar describes a merchant's job and then concludes that when a person sells something for more than it is worth, it is "unjust and unlawful" [D4].

on merchants and traders. In the New Testament of the Bible, hatred is shown towards

This trade route definitely made it possible for the religion to diffuse as goods moved between territories and populations, but more importantly they facilitated the movement of these items to otherwise isolated locations, like small towns and villages, consequently exposing millions of these areas to ideas and religious ideologies from which they;d been oblivious to be beforehand. After a while, merchants weren’t the only ones who would exploit the kickoff of trade routes; warriors and proselytizers (people who were dedicated to converting others to a religion) also joined them. These routes were critical in the integrating of peoples of different cultures, religions and philosophies. The merchants would practice their religious traditions routinely, which created a strong influence on the non-Christians and induced them into advancing the spread of

Over time, during the 15th and 16th centuries, Islam and Christianity began to show many similarities regarding trade. In the beginning Christianity talks about how people should stay away from merchants and trading because it could possibly make them materialistic. Islam almost has the same idea except they believe you may trade, but it must be fairly. Anything other than that would be considered as sinful as committing a crime. These two religions are similar because they were both aware of the bad nature that trading

Trade routes were very much wanted around the 1400s. This is when merchants and crusaders brought many different goods to Europe from numerous other countries. This made the desire for trade greater because they wanted more of the products.

With the collapse of the Great Silk Road, trade routes through the waters became more necessary. Muslims and Europeans fought over the Indian Ocean and the several prosperous ports (plus major cities and villages in Ethiopia) during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. (McKay et al., 2009) Although Muslims had controlled the Indian Ocean trade for centuries, Portugal’s ability to circumvent the southern tip of Africa led to war and Portugal’s eventual defeat of Muslim traders and their imperialism throughout the Southeast Asian market. Africa’s Swahili people and their ivory, copra and rhinoceros horns and China’s “age of commerce”, which was developing within the neighboring countries of Vietnam and Burma, multiplied the available goods for Europeans to bring back home. (McKay et al., 2009) Portugal, as with most European countries, was beginning their recovery financially after years of war and plague. With the growth of trade and the amount of people in the Indian Ocean area, religion quickly followed. (McKay et al., 2009) Again, Muslims and Europeans were in battle. But this time they fought for religious supremacy in numbers. Each faction quickly moved to convert as many people as possible. Settlements were formed, cities grew, and customs and culture began mixing in an early version of a melting pot. (McKay et al., 2009)

5. Avner Grief in his paper champions the idea that Maghribi traders, Jewish traders in the Mediterranean, traded overseas using agents despite the commitment problem inherent in long-distance trade. Grief asserts that the agency relations among the traders were governed by an institution that he terms coalition. Grief also notes that to maintain the coalition, defectors were punished by mutual ostracison. Grief employs historical documents to evaluate the importance and attributes of the agents’ commitment problem and then uses the analysis to construct an explicit game-theoretical model. He uses statements from letters written by agents and traders to identify their strategies for his theoretical model. His analyses are based on the assumptions