Ch. 14's Big Question: To what extent did Europeans transform earlier patterns of commerce, and in what ways did they assimilate into those older patterns?

European empire transformed earlier patterns of commerce "in the Western Hemisphere grew out of an accident — Columbus’s unknowing encounter with the Americas — and that new colonial societies and new commercial connections across the Atlantic were the results" (Strayer, 602), this is the best way they assimilate into those older patterns. Europeans also "encountered an ancient and rich network of commerce that stretched from East Africa to China" (Strayer, 602). They were used within commercial network's wealth, "but largely ignorant of its workings" (Strayer, 602).

Europeans had transformed into Asia in the Early Modern Era, which was "witnessed only very limited territorial control by Europeans in Asia" (Strayer, 604). Most people would prefer trade, which "was the chief concern of the Western newcomers, who were not, in any event, a serious military threat to major Asian states" (Strayer, 604). This is a persistent trade deficit that had "contributed much to the intense desire for precious metals that attracted early modern European explorers, traders, and conquerors" (Strayer, 604). This is how early modern European explorers, traders, and conquerors "behaved in that world and what they created there differed considerably among the various European countries, but collectively they contributed much to the new regime of globalized trade" (Strayer, 604), including Indian Ocean commerce.

Overall, the European empire is the most important subject in world history.