"Ways of the World"
Chapter Fourteen: Economic Transformations Continued
Commerce and Consequence
1450-1750
In this chapter what I also found interesting was the section on the fur trade. It is just such an underrated topic when you actually think about it. Honestly, I never even really saw the fur trade in other historical classes being taught through a text book as essentially a prosperous enterprise. Sure it was making money like any other rarity or textile during that time yet it was not portrayed in a way that wold imply that this was a serious, and at the time, existentially growing market for the larger parts of the globe and larger more successful empires. This includes but is not limited to North America, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, France, London, etc. It was also fascinating to analyze the symbolic meaning behind the different kinds of fur in various regions. Not only were they worn for conventional purposes, such as keeping the French or Siberians warm in fatal winters, but they also represented different social statuses in Russia, Europe, and parliament.
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