Question

How did trade with Asia impact Italy?

Answer 1

Hint: Many new ideas and goods have been brought into Europe by trade. A busy economy has created rich towns and new classes with sufficient money to promote art and learning.
In the trade routes between the rest of Western Europe and the East, Italian cities such as Venice and Genoa were located.

Complete answer:
Italy trades -
i) Traditionally, Italy's commercial strength was built on textiles, food and manufactured goods. Metal and industrial products, mainly from Germany, France, the U.S. and the United Kingdom, are the main imports of Italy. Significant commodities also include imports of chemicals, vehicles and minerals.

ii) The Eastern Med was ruled by the St Mark's Lion symbolic of Venice. The trade along the silk road to China, throughout the Black Sea, brought riches to Venice and other city states such as Genova. The silk road brought to Venice famous and rich by Marco Polo.

iii) When the Ottoman Turks wanted Constantiopo in 1451, they cut off trade with China and Asia for the Italian city states. The Italian cities have lost power and wealth from their trade with Asia. Florence became Italy's most powerful city state with its wool trade with England and northern Europe.

Impact on Italy from the trades with Asia -
-Italians sought new reasons to expand their needs for Asian goods by extending the Crusades.
-By becoming a channel of trade between Italy and the Middle East, the Byzantine Empire secured its position.
-The increased trade with Asia resulted in a cultural revival in the context of an economic boom.
-This contact promoted foreign diplomacy when Italians found new trade routes to Asia.
-The city of Italy became rich and powerful by trading in Asia.

Note: In the late Middle Ages the wealth of city-states, such as Venice and Genoa, were much more affluent in northern and central Italy than in Southern Italy. Luxury items, such as spices, dyes and silk, purchased in the Levant have been imported to Italy and then sold in Europe.