A Book Review of Cross-Cultural Trade in Maritime History by Philip Curtin

Cross-Cultural Trade in Maritime History by Philip Curtin was a fascinating book to read due to its relatively unexplored topic of trade diasporas in Africa, Asia, and America to successfully conduct trade. Not only was the theme interesting, the book was easily and intelligently organized by the three major trading zones according to Curtin and the use of what he calls "cross cultural trade brokers" to trade between different cultures and languages.

Curtin stated in the beginning of the book that he wanted to walk away from the European centric view of trade and instead explore the effect other foreign cultures had on the world in the early beginnings of civilization. Curtin instead argued that through the role of trade brokers and merchants in diasporas, regional economic and culture was developed in many societies.

The role of merchants was very important according to Curtin. At the start of cross cultural trade, many if not all merchants would continually travel from their home country to the trading post in the foreign country. Each time they would have to set up "shop" and re-kindle the connections they created the last time they were there trading.

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According to Curtin, no one knows when, but a shift started to occur where merchants would begin to lay down roots inside the foreign trading country and begin to learn the language, the customs, and the culture to better trade with others. They would not live in a major city per se, but instead live outside a second tier city and settle down. There they would be a cross-cultural trade broker and help foster trade between the host city and the merchants from their home country.

In his book, Crutin explores the different trade diasporas in Africa, Asia, and North America. The book was not the history of early trading between people but a study of patterns between cross cultural trade, which is trade between two countries that differed culturally. The country of Africa plays a larger role in the book. The reason behind this is Curtin's own research on early African trade. However this does not play a basis in the book, instead it gave a very detailed view of trade in Africa, both between tribes and different countries.

Africa

While new shipping technology helped facilitate trade in East Asia, the introduction of camels to Sub-Saharan Africa greatly increased trade between African tribes and other nations. They are very efficient pack animals and can go for very long periods without water. Curtin also argued that the geographical and ecological location of people helped trade flourish and increase the local economy. Curtin uses the argument of date farmers and their ability to exchange something sweet with a good that has more calories, such as grain. The date farmers would be able to exchange dates, a good that does not have many calories and does not contains much subsistence, to grain farmers who wanted and desired something sweet.

Trade diasporas in Africa and as well as in other foreign countries were generally kept at a distance from the city or town they operated in. They did not have too much interaction with the community or culture, but did receive enough to successfully conduct business. Without barriers, the trader brokers would have slowly disappeared into the host culture and city within a couple of generations. The trade diasporas merchants needed contact with their host country, but needed to keep enough distance to act as trade brokers to other traveling merchants.

As discussed in When China Ruled the Sea, there was a point in time where China greatly expanded their trade and increased their wealth. However, in Cross-Cultural Trade in World History, Curtin explores the settlements China created along the way through Southeast Asia.

Many of the settlements helped foster trade with the next set of trading voyages sent out by China. However, due to China's struggle to control foreign trade inside their country, many settlements appeared outside of China's reach. In response to China's use of the tribute-trade system, where if foreign nations wanted to trade with China they must first send tributes to respect China's power and self-worth to the world, many merchants created offshore settlement in Manila, Okinawa, Siam, and Taiwan to trade with Chinese merchants.

America

The main trade diasporas in America was European and their goal was to collect fur for their European buyers. The location of the animals and the ability to reach them by waterways helped the fur trade prosper. However, the fur trade faced one problem, The Tragedy of the Commons. This is the exhaustion of finite resources when there is non-excludable access and

non-rival demand. Not only did this lead to the implosion of the fur trade it also led to conflict with the people of North America. The rate of capture of fur-bearing animals and the rate of demand in Europe cause the hunting parties to move from one area to the next; affecting every tribe and people they saw with new diseases and death. A present day example of the Tragedy of the Commons is happening in the Gulf of Guinea. Due to there being of a non-existent Coast Guard, many nations such as China can have open season on West Africa's fish stocks, thereby depleting the resources ever so needed by the underserved cities and people.

The End of Trade Diasporas

The main cause for the ending of trade diasporas and trade brokers was the industrial revolution, the westernization of world commerce, and the development of new military technology, specifically gun powder. With the start of the industrial age, many countries saw improvement in the technology they used to trade with the world. New ship building techniques were discovered, communication improved, and most importantly, gun powder helped shape the military power of many nations. There was no need for trade brokers to mitigate talks between two different cultures when the more powerful one could stroll in and kill the chief without batting an eye.

Another reason for the disappearance of trade diasporas was the Westernization and assimilation of many cultures. There was no need for a trade broker when both cultures understood what each other wanted. Curtin also showed that there was a transition from trading posts and trading diasporas to territorial empires as seen with the VOC. He goes on to argue that a single, united world trading system emerged, making the cross cultural brokers no longer necessary to conduct business.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book, I thought it was very well laid out and explored a topic of history I assumed happened, but really I did not know the details of the creation and use of trade diasporas. However there were some critiques of the book that should be discussed. On page 78, Curtin proclaims that settlements and colonies in foreign countries were mainly used for agriculture means and not for trade. It's as if settlement were to ignore the vast resources and mineral in the foreign area and instead focus on agriculture and farming.

Another critique is the extent Curtin went into to explain the history of everything involving the three specific areas discussed in the book. There was some level of detail in Africa when Curtin discussed the competitive use of trade routes along rivers between differing trade brokers and diasporas but in Asia and America Curtin chose to explore the overall history of the area. In the end, I greatly enjoyed reading this book and learning about a different aspect of maritime history that was unknown to me.

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