ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the general experience of both political and cultural consolidation and discusses population trends. Evolutionary analysis is most evident in our discussion of porcelain, one of the most important trade goods of the time. Trade expansion was associated with agricultural expansion. Political consolidation was far from the only source of cultural consolidation. Increased state power and increased trade combined to encourage improved transport infrastructure, which further intensified contact between people. Ethnic identification was fluid in this period. Millions of people around the world would change their ethnic identity in ways that reduced the ethnic diversity of the world. Trade by sea benefited from better ships and better navigation tools. European, Arab, and Chinese shipbuilders all built larger ships with better sails. Expansion in trade encouraged and was in turn facilitated by the increased production of currency.
