Ocean Trade in the 16th–17th Century

During the 16th century, trade between Europe and the inhabited continents flourished. In the 15th century, only Icelandic fishing boats and a few Spanish and Portuguese ships trading with the Atlantic islands sailed the ocean. By the 16th century, Atlantic voyages had become routine, and smaller-scale trade was also conducted in the Pacific Ocean. The main routes, such as the one from Lisbon to India and from Seville to the West Indian islands, depended on the prevailing wind systems for navigation.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese strengthened their bases in Asia, and their military power allowed them to defend themselves from attacks by Eastern Muslim, Arab, Chinese, and Malay sailors. For about a hundred years, they dominated the route to India. Their trade was characterized by variety and geographic dispersion. They had limited exchange goods and capital, so they developed an entire network of secondary commercial sectors. They mainly transported spices to Europe but were also involved in local trade and were the first global traders. Trade was hindered by disasters, and the sea routes posed extreme difficulties for sailors. Ships were often damaged, and mutinies were common among the crews, mostly recruited from the lower classes. The Portuguese had the best navigators in the world, although they lacked detailed geographical knowledge. Their captains were skilled, mostly from humble backgrounds, with noble commanders appointed over them. In their pursuit of profit, they often overloaded their ships and sent them to sea in worn-out conditions.

Since the Portuguese also employed sailors from other nations, the Dutch gained early firsthand experience in Asian waters. They approached Java from the south, navigating southern seas, which carried the risk of drifting too far east (the shores of Australia remained the burial grounds of Dutch ships for a long time). The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602, with more capital and ships than its Portuguese and English rivals. They exported weapons, cloth, velvet, and Dutch glass. In 1619, they founded Batavia, aiming to challenge Goa, the Portuguese trade capital. In the 1650s, they captured Portuguese ports in Ceylon and South India. Goa was blockaded, and they controlled production, prices, and monopolized the coffee and spice trade to Europe.

The English East India Company, with strong support from the Prince of Surat in China, enjoyed significant backing against the Dutch. They established their first base in 1643 in Madras, followed by Bombay and Calcutta. They paid cash for cotton, indigo, muslin, and saltpeter. In 1689, they sent the first shipment from China, a tea shipment. During the 18th century, the southern seas (Red Sea, Persian Gulf) became more prominent. Local trade was primarily used for transporting slaves and dates.

The Spanish engaged in large-scale trade with Spanish America. They exported Spanish lifestyle goods and supplied slaves to the plantations. In the 1550s, new silver mines were discovered in the Americas, which increased the Spanish population and expanded the range of goods arriving there (clothes, weapons, glass, paper). In American ports, Spanish ships were loaded with silver, sugar, and wine. They sailed in convoys, escorted by warships that also carried goods. Portuguese America began with a few settlements on the Brazilian coast in the early 16th century. They had good relations with the rulers involved in the slave trade, and they illegally or with royal permission transported slaves to the sugar plantations. However, the crown could not secure enough slaves, and foreign traders actively participated in the slave smuggling. The English were the first to expand their Atlantic voyages to the Guinea coast, where they smuggled slaves along with textiles and industrial goods. It would have been too expensive for their North American colonies to export timber to Europe, so they developed trade relations with the West Indian islands. The Dutch later joined the American trade, appearing on the Brazilian coasts around 1585. Their first shipment of slaves arrived in 1606. In 1621, they established the Dutch West India Company, which supplied goods to both the Spanish and Portuguese. Ships arriving from the Americas unloaded cargo in Amsterdam, consisting of timber, cocoa beans, Peruvian silver, and Brazilian gold. New Amsterdam, which was developed into a center for fur trade around the Great Lakes, was seized by the English in 1654. However, the Dutch maintained absolute dominance in American trade until the early 18th century. From the 17th century onward, the English and French, with their chain of colonies from Newfoundland to Barbados, closely followed the Dutch in their commercial endeavors.

J.H.Perry The Ocean Trade, The Means of Transport, Cambridge History 1967 ford. Kondor Zsuzsa