Between 1300 and 1700 drastic changes in Europe and Asia ultimately established a new trading network which created a coherent world market directly linking America and Asia for the first time.
In the 1300s epidemics of bubonic plague swept from China and Korea to the west coast of Europe. Dramatic population decline led to economic disruption that was intensified by a series of bad harvests. By 1350 the plague had reached much of northern Europe. Trade continued along the previously-known land and sea trade routes. Westerners (Europeans) traded honey, glassware, sugar, and textiles. …
