Commentary1

In this book, Europe is shown to increase steadily from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth century economically through trade. After the fall of Rome in Europe, Asia and the Middle East are the dominating or hegemonic forces for trade. Europe started to regain their economic standing in the world after the fall of Rome, and at this time they were underdeveloped or periphery. As Europe moves from periphery to developed, core or dominating, the Middle East and Asia fall behind. The Middle East and Asia are having independent problems that creates them to fall behind Europe allowing Europe to become the dominate power of trade. The Pax Mongolica is the prime trade route through Europe, Asia, Middle East, and India. Since Europe was just starting to rise the book brings up the point that there actually were no dominating forces during this time. This all leads up to how the present day developed and used the knowledge of the trade system in thirteen century Europe.

I learned some interesting facts as to how Europe rose above their hardships and how the hardships of other countries influenced their downfall in such a short time. Also I found it interesting how similar the trade of the thirteen century Pax Mongolica is to our own.

In class the slide that gives a quote from the book and then poses the question, “So do they Matter?” The trade and economic systems of the past are the foundation of the future. Without this system the future is in danger of slower development or worse no development at all. Today’s globalization is the direct result of trial and error from the knowledge from the past starting with one of the earliest trade routes like Pax Mongolica.