
Mapping the Mercantilist World Economy - colinprince
https://ericrossacademic.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/mapping-the-mercantilist-world-economy/
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JacobAldridge
Great read. I've studied a fair amount of history (by the end of university, I
realised I'd done at least one formal course in every time period from the
sacking of Rome in 410 to the sacking of Nixon in 1974), so I always enjoy
these 'larger context' pieces.

One thing this helped me understand better was the Dutch Tulip-mania. Tulips,
as I learnt when they were blooming everywhere on a visit to Istanbul, are
native to modern-day Turkey, historically the Ottoman Empire. The ongoing
trade / power struggle between the Muslim / Arab world and the emerging
European Powers would thus have restricted trade from one to the other, and
driven up the scarcity of Tulip bulbs. I had wondered how something that grows
so naturally on one side of a continent could be so valuable for as long as it
was on the other side - this helped me piece more of the story together.

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jmickey
Thank you for the insightful article! Sadly it only covers historical trade
routes. Are similar maps available for present day? I.e. What are the main
trade routes for different types of goods?

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pjc50
There's an entire _industry_ of analysts trying to keep track of global trade.
You might try
[http://www.globalmaritimehub.com/](http://www.globalmaritimehub.com/) , for
example. I used to follow
[http://www.theoildrum.com/](http://www.theoildrum.com/) which focused on oil
and the broader trade of energy. On the other hand there are various indexes
for collapsing complex trade results into single numbers like the Baltic Dry
index.

This is definitely a question which is amenable to losing yourself in
searches.

