9781422281222

electronics exports increased by 8.6 percent. Japan also profited by selling $1.17 billion in machine tools to Chinese factories producing the iPhone 6. When customers in Vancouver or Miami purchase Apple iPhones, they’re sup- porting workers across the globe. The Growth of Global Trade For centuries, goods have traveled across the world to eager customers. During the Renaissance period, Europeans bought Indonesian spices, African gold, and Caribbean sugar. The Chinese purchased Peruvian silver. Africans coveted European textiles. And New World colonists enjoyed French wine and Chinese silk. Yet the production of these goods and the transportation systems used to get them to market differed from the sup- ply chains of today. In the Renaissance, merchants traveled long distances to get high-priced luxury items, such as spices, sugar, and silk. These products were harvested and produced near each material’s source. Then they were shipped to other parts of the world in their final form, ready for purchase. The Caribbean sugar plantations are one example. Workers grew sugarcane plants, extracted the sugar from the plants, and refined the sugar on the planta- tion. When workers had completed every step, the refined sugar was shipped across the Atlantic to European dinner tables. Transporting goods around the world also took more time in the Renaissance than it does today. In the 1500s, it took a full year for European merchants to sail around

10

Global Trade in the Modern World