istoryworld
Events relating to trade
Portugal claims ownership of the region of Guinea, subsequently the centre of their slave trade on the west African coast
The Portuguese settlers on the Cape Verde islands are granted a monopoly on the new slave trade
Caxton establishes the first English printing press in London, after working in the new trade in Bruges
An increase in trade through the central Sahara benefits the Songhay, with their capital at Gao, at the expense of Mali
John Cabot, searching for a trade route to China, probably reaches Newfoundland
The people of Benin begin a lasting tradition of sculpture in brass, melted down from objects brought by traders
Vasco da Gama wins a trading treaty for Portuguese merchants after bombarding the Indian port of Calicut into submission
The Portuguese set up a trading post on the east African island of Zanzibar
The Portuguese take control of Malacca, in the Malay peninsula, as a base for trade further east
The Portuguese make treaties in the Moluccas (or Spice Islands), to trade in cloves and nutmeg
La Paz is founded on the trade route between Lima and the newly discovered silver mines at Potosi
Africans, bought in the Portuguese trading posts of west Africa, are shipped across the Atlantic as slaves
Spanish galleons assemble each year at Portobelo to deliver European goods and to ship home the metals of Latin America
The Muscovy Company is granted a monopoly by the crown to trade with Russia, as the first of the English chartered companies
The Portuguese establish a trading post on Macao, a small peninsula off the south coast of China
English sailor and slave-trader John Hawkins turns the top-heavy carrack into the more seaworthy galleon
The first Dutch expedition round the Cape reaches Java and secures trading agreements
The Dutch East India Company is founded, with a tax-free monopoly of the eastern trade for twenty-one years
Quebec is founded by Samuel de Champlain as a centre for the French fur trade
The Dutch West India Company is chartered to trade and found colonies anywhere along the entire American coast
The Dutch gradually exclude the Portuguese from the immensely lucrative trade in cloves from the Spice Islands (or Moluccas)
The Dutch expel the Portuguese from their trading posts in Malacca
Parliament in England passes the first of several Navigation Acts designed to reserve international trade for English ships
The British, settling in Jamaica, soon turn the island into the major slave market of the West Indies
The Dutch in South Africa purchase slaves to do domestic and agricultural work
