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Shinmiyangyo

Shinmiyangyo

Shinmiyangyo (lit. Western Disturbance of the Year of Shinmi) was first American military action in Korea in 1871. The main reasons for the US presence in Korea were to secure a trade treaty, establish an agreement to protect shipwrecked seamen, and ascertain what happened in the General Sherman Incident in 1866. The landing forces consisted of about 650 men (over 500 sailors and 100 Marines). In this fight, the US had Remington rolling block carbines (.50-45), the Marines had Springfield muskets and Navy Plymouths; the Koreans had matchlocks. They landed at Choji Fortress on June 10, with no opposition; they camped nearby overnight. The next morning, they finished destroying the fort, dumping or spiking cannons and then moved on, with Marines travelling ahead as skirmishers. The Korean forces banded together as guerilla units but, armed with only matchlocks, and being kept in check by US artillery (12-pdr. howitzers on field carriages), they could not get within effective firing range. The US troops moved on toward the next objective, Dukjin Fortress (Fort Monocacy). The Korean forces had, likewise, abandoned the second fortress, choosing to mass together farther north. The Marines quickly dismantled this fortress, too. Like the past fortress, they dumped and spiked cannon, burned stores, etc. Next, they went onward toward their main objective, Kwangsungbo (Citadel). The Korean forces had regrouped there, en masse. Along the way, some Korean units tried to flank the US forces; they were checked, again, by strategic placement of artillery on two hills nearby the Citadel. Artillery, both from the ground forces and also from the USS Monocacy, offshore, pounded the Citadel and the hill directly west of it, in preparation for an assault by US forces. The US forces, made up of nine companies of sailors and one company of Marines, grouped on the facing hill, keeping cover and firing at any defender who showed himself. When a signal was given, firing stopped and the US forces charged toward the Citadel, with Lt. Hugh McKee in the lead. The Koreans fired as fast as they could, but the US forces gained ground before they could reload; the Koreans even ended up throwing rocks at the attackers. Lt. McKee was the first in the Citadel, with a sword in one hand and a revolver in the other. He was shot in the groin and speared in the side by Koreans inside. After him came Commander Schley, who shot and killed the Korean who speared Lt. McKee. The fighting went on for only fifteen minutes or so and all the defenders were either killed, wounded and captured or escaped. When the fighting was over, about 350 Koreans were dead and three Americans (Lt. McKee, landsman Seth Allen and Marine Denis Hanrahan). The US took 20 Koreans as captives, and hoped to use them as a bargaining chip to meet with Korean officials, but the Koreans refused, calling the captives cowards and telling the Americans they could keep them as chattel. The Koreans sent in reinforcements, this time with modern rifles, and Admiral Rodgers retreated to China on July 3rd. The US won the battle, militarily, but lost diplomatically, as the Koreans refused to open up the country to them (and the US forces didn't have authority or strength for occupation). However, these events spelled the end of Korean isolationism, and in 1876 Korea established a trade treaty with Japan after Japanese ships approached Kanghwa and threatened to fire on Seoul. Treaties with European countries and the US soon followed.

The Chemulpo Treaty

From April to May 1882 Korea and the United States negotiated and approved the 14 article treaty, which established mutual friendship and defense in case of attack, the ability of Koreans to emigrate to the US, most favored nation trade status, extraterritorial rights for American citizens in Korea, and non-interference of Christian missionaries proselytizing in Korea. The treaty continued until Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and controlled it until the end of World War II. The next US military presence in Korea took place at the end of WWII, in 1945; the next military conflict in Korea, involving the US, was the 1950-53 Korean War.

See also


- List of Korea-related topics

External links


- [http://www.shinmiyangyo.org 1871 US Korea Campaign]
- [http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/1462.html The early US-Korea relations - Excerpt from "A Brief History of the US-Korea Relations Prior to 1945"]
- [http://www.kimsoft.com/2000%5Csherman.htm Gateway to Shimiyangyo] Category:Military history of the United States Category:Joseon Dynasty

US

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18 (although

Korea

— For other places called Korea, see: Korea (disambiguation) Korea refers to South Korea and North Korea together, which were a unified country until 1948. It is situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast. It is populated by a homogeneous ethnic group, the Koreans, who speak a distinct language (Korean). Korea was partitioned into two halves following World War II. South Korea, supported by the United States, is now a capitalist liberal democracy, and sometimes referred to simply as "Korea". North Korea, supported by the former Soviet Union, remains a Communist state, often described as Stalinist and isolationist. The Unification Flag may represent Korea at international sporting events, but is not an official flag of either country.

Overview

In ancient Chinese texts Korea is referred to as "Rivers and Mountains Embroidered on Silk" (錦繡江山) and "Eastern Nation of Decorum" (東方禮儀之國). During the 7th and 8th centuries, land and sea trading networks connected Korea and Arabia. Koreans used wooden printing blocks by 751. Metal movable type was invented in Korea as early as 1232 (although clay prints were earlier invented in China), before Johann Gutenberg developed metal letterset type. During the Goryeo period, the silk was considered by China to be the best in the world, and pottery made with blue-green celadon glazes became a coveted Korean specialty. In the Joseon era, Korea presided over progress in traditional arts and crafts, such as white celadon glazes, finer silk and paper, and the creation of the Korean alphabet, hangul. Also during this time the first ironclad warships in the world were developed and deployed in Korea. Korea is currently divided into the capitalist South Korea and the communist North Korea. After the Korean War, North Korea's economy rebounded relatively quickly, stronger than that of the South until the 1970s. Since the 1990s, the loss of communist markets in Eastern Europe, poor management, and natural disasters have left the country largely dependent on foreign aid. A famine in the late 1990s likely killed about a million people, although reliable statistics are difficult to come by (Meredith Woo-Cummings, The Political Ecology of Famine: The North Korean Catastrophe and Its Lessons, Tokyo: Asian Dev. Bank Inst., 2001). 1990s In contrast, South Korea after the war remained impoverished into the 1960s, when the dictator-president Park Chung Hee began to funnel investment into chaebol, or family-controlled conglomerates. His rule was marked by the violation of human rights (although on a far smaller scale than in North Korea) as well as by record-breaking economic growth. South Korea now is the 11th largest economy in the world. Presidential elections are held every five years. Both Korean states proclaim eventual reunification as a goal, and a united Korea is very much a part of Korean ethno-cultural identity.

Geography

Korea is located on the Korean Peninsula in North-East Asia. It is bound by two countries and three seas. To the northwest, the Yalu River separates Korea from China and to the north, the Tumen River separates Korea from Russia. The Yellow Sea is to the west, the South China Sea is to the south, and the Sea of Japan (East Sea) is to the east of Korea. Notable islands include Jeju-do, Ulleung-do, and Liancourt Rocks (Dok-do). The southern part and western part of the Korean mainland have well developed plains, while the eastern and northern parts are mountainous. The highest mountain in Korea is Mt. Baekdu (2744m, Changbaishan in chinese). The border with China runs through the mountain. The southern extension of Mt. Baekdu is a highland called Gaema Gowon. This highland was mainly raised during the Cenozoic orogeny and partly covered by volcanic matter. To the south of Gaema Gowon, successive high mountains are located along the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. This series of mountains is named Beakdudaegan. Some significant mountains include Sobaeksan (2,184 m), Baeksan (1,724 m), Geumgangsan (1,638 m), Seoraksan (1,708 m), Taebaeksan (1,567 m) and Jirisan (1,915 m). There are several lower, secondary mountain series whose direction is almost perpendicular to that of Baekdudaegan. They are developed along the tectonic line of Mesozoic orogeny and their directions are NW, NWW. As opposed to the old mountains on the mainland, some important islands in Korea were formed by volcanic activity in the recent Cenozoic. Jeju Island, situated off the south coastline of the Korean Peninsula, is a large volcanic island whose main mountain is Mt. Halla (1950 m). Ulleung-do and the Liancourt Rocks (Dok-do) are volcanic islands in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), whose composition is more feslic than Jeju. The volcanic islands tend to be younger as one moves westward. Because the mountainous regions are biased toward the eastern part of the peninsula, the main rivers tend to flow to westwards. Two exceptions are the southward-flowing Nakdong and the Seomjin River. Important rivers running westward include the Yalu, Cheongcheon River, Daedong River, Han River, Geum River, and Yeongsan River. These rivers have vast flood plains and they provide an ideal environment for rice cultivation. The southern and southwestern coastline of the Korean Peninsula is a well-developed Lias coastline. It is known as Dadohae in Korean. Its complicated coastline provides mild seas, and the resulting calm environment allows for safe navigation, fishing, and seaweed farming. In addition to the complex coastline, the western coast of the Korean peninsula has an extremely high tidal amplitude (at Incheon, around the middle of the western coast, it is as high as 9 m). Vast tidal flats are developing on the south and west coastline of the Korean Peninsula.

Demographics

(see also: Demographics of South Korea) The Korean Peninsula is populated almost exclusively by ethnic Koreans, although a significant minority of ethnic Chinese (about 20,000 [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ks.html]) exists in South Korea, and small communities of ethnic Chinese and Japanese are said to exist in North Korea ([http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kn.html]). Foreign workforce in South Korea is estimated at over half a million. The combined population (including North and South Korea) of the Korean Peninsula is about 71,000,000 people.

History

Main article: History of Korea There is archaeological evidence that people were living on the Korean peninsula 700,000 years ago. The Palaeolithic period began around 70,000 BC, and earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 7000 BC, and the Neolithic period begins around 6000 BC. Eventually (2333 BC according to the Dangun legend), Gojoseon was founded, encompassing northern Korea and Manchuria. In 108 BC, Gojoseon fell to the Chinese Han dynasty, who installed four commanderies in northern Korea, three of which quickly fell to Korean resistance. In this period, southern Korea was occupied first by the Jin state, and later the Samhan, three loose confederacies. In the north, the expanding Goguryeo reunited Buyeo, Okjeo, and Dongye in the former Gojoseon territory, and destroyed the last Chinese commandery in 313.

The Three Kingdoms

The three kingdoms Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje (the latter two arising from the Samhan) competed with each other as minor statelets fell or merged with these regional powers. Sophisticated state organizations developed under Confucian and Buddhist paradigms. Goguryeo was the most dominant power, but was at constant war with the Chinese Sui and Tang. Emperor Yang-ti of Sui, with one million troops, invaded Goguryeo, but in 612 CE, General Eulji Mundeok pushed the Chinese force into retreat. The Sui fall from power in China was partly due to Goguryeo. Silla was the least advanced of the Three Kingdoms, but had established a fierce military. Silla first annexed Gaya, then conquered Baekje and Goguryeo with Tang assistance. Silla warriors were called the Hwarang.

Balhae and Unified Silla

Silla eventually repulsed Tang from Goguryeo territory, although the northern part regrouped as Balhae. Silla ("Unified Silla" hereon) thus came to control most of the Korean peninsula by the 8th century. In the late 9th century, Unified Silla gave way to the brief Later Three Kingdoms period. After the fall of Goguryeo, General Dae Joyeong led a group of his people to the Jilin area in Manchuria. The general founded the state of Balhae (Bohai in Chinese) as the successor to Goguryeo and regained control of lost northern territory. Eventually, Balhae's territory would extend from the Sungari and Amur Rivers in northern Manchuria all the way down to the northern provinces of modern Korea. In the 10th century Balhae was conquered by the Khitans.

Goryeo

The kingdom of Goryeo (918 CE–1392 CE) replaced Silla as the dominant power in Korea. Many members of the Balhae ruling class joined the newly founded Goryeo Dynasty, which established boundaries of Korea to a little more than where they exist today (See Gando region which is now occupied by the Chinese). During this period, laws were codified, and a civil service system was introduced. Buddhism flourished throughout the peninsula. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Goryeo continued to be plagued by attacks from Jurchen and Khitan tribes on the northern borders. Conflict increased between civil and military officials in Goryeo as the latter were degraded and poorly paid. This led to an uprising by military and forced some military officials to migrate to other areas. In 1238 the Mongols invaded Goryeo and laid the kingdom in ruins as resistance continued on and off for almost thirty years. Eventually, a treaty was signed between the two kingdoms in favor of the Mongols. In the 1340s, the Mongol Empire declined rapidly due to internal struggles. Korea was at last able to forge political reform with out mongol interference. At this time a General named Yi Seong-gye distinguishes himself by repelling Japanese pirates who were constantly stealing mainland technology from Korean and Chinese merchant ships. Yi Seong-gye

Joseon

In 1392 Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty, moving the capital to Hanseong (now Seoul). Hangul was created by King Sejong in 1443. During the late 1500s, Japan invaded Korea in two failed attempts, known together as the Seven-Year War, inflicting great destruction and suffering on Korea. The Manchus then successfully invaded China and forced Korea in 1627 to recognize the Manchu government. Beginning in the 1870s, Japan began to acquire western technology then forced Korea away from China's sphere of influence. In 1895, Empress Min of Korea was murdered by the Japanese under Miura Goro. Japan further increased its control over Korea following the First Sino-Japanese War (1894) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905).

Japanese occupation

Main article: Korea under Japanese rule In 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan. Japanese occupation lasted until 1945 when Japan was defeated by the Allied Forces at the end of World War II. Many Koreans were forcibly sent all around the empire, men as slave laborers and women as military sex slaves called "comfort women". During the suppression of independence movement in 1919, 7,000 Koreans were killed by Japanese police and soldiers. Although statistics are difficult to obtain and verify, around 60,000 Korean laborers in Japan are known to have died between 1939 and 1945. Anti-Japanese sentiment still runs strong in Korea , as a result of Japanese war crimes and what Koreans see as continuing unrepentant actions.

Division

Main articles: Division of Korea, Korean War, Korean reunification In 1945, in the aftermath of WWII, the United Nations developed plans for a trusteeship administration, the United States effectively began administering the peninsula south of the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union administering north. The politics of the Cold War resulted in the 1948 establishment of two separate governments. In June 1950, North Korea invaded the South, beginning the Korean War. After three devastating years of fighting that involved China, Soviet Union, the US, and several United Nations countries (including Canada, Great Britain, and Turkey to name a few), the war ended in a ceasefire agreement at approximately the same boundary. The two countries never signed a peace treaty. Since the 1990s, with progressively liberal South Korean administrations, as well as the death of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, the two sides have taken halting, symbolic steps towards cooperation, in international sporting events, reunification of separated family members, and tourism.

Names of Korea

Main article: Names of Korea While "North Korean" and "South Korea" are the most commonly used internationally, the formal names are Republic of Korea (ROK) for South Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for North Korea. "Korea" derives from the Goryeo (Koryŏ, 고려) period of Korean history, which in turn referred to the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo (Koguryŏ, 고구려). See also Korean-Japanese disputes for the spelling issue of "Corea" and "Korea." In the Korean language, Korea as a whole is referred to as Han-guk (한국, Han Nation) by South Korea and Chosŏn (조선) by North Korea.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Korea The nation uses vibrant colors for its festivities which is said to be due to Mongolian influences. It is common to see bright hues of red, yellow, and green on objects and material that define traditional Korean motifs [http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/calendar/kcostumes.htm]. Family ties are an important aspect of familial relations, including business relations. Bowing is a custom that is expected among Koreans as a way of greeting one another. Although about half of the population is non-religious, Korean values spring from a large number of influences, including Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more recently Christianity. [http://www.seoulsearching.com/culture/]. Korea is sometimes described as a Confucian society. Korean cuisine is marked by its traditional dish called kimchi which uses a distinctive fermentation process of preserving vegetables. Chili peppers are also commonly used in Korean cuisine, which has given it a reputation for being spicy. See also Korean cuisine.

Korea in sporting events

South Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, giving the country an economical boost through increased tourism and greater world recognition. At the time, North_Korea boycotted the event on the grounds that it was not made co-host. North_Korea A unified Korean team competed under the Unification Flag in 1991 in both the 41st World Table Tennis Championship in Chiba, Japan and in the 6th World Youth Soccer Championship in Lisbon, Portugal. A unified Korean team marched under the Unification Flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but competed separately in sporting events. As of the 2006 Asian Games, South Korean officials have announced the countries shall compete in the same unified sporting teams as well. In the summer of 2002, the FIFA World Cup was hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, at 10 stadiums in each country. They competed separately, however.

Represented Airport


- [http://www.airport.or.kr/Eng/home.jsp Incheon International Airport]

Further Readings


- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS895xR9xH2/ Account of a voyage of discovery to the west coast of Corea, and the great Loo-Choo island]; with an appendix, containing charts, and various hydrographical and scientific notices. By Captain Basil Hall with a vocabulary of the Loo-Choo languages, by H. J. Clifford. Publisher: London, J. Murray, 1818. (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DS895xR9xH2/1f/halls_corea.pdf layered PDF] format)
- Chun, Tuk Chu. "Korea in the Pacific Community." Social Education 52 (March 1988), 182. EJ 368 177.
- Cumings, Bruce. The Two Koreas. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1984.
- Focus On Asian Studies. Special Issue: "Korea: A Teacher's Guide." No. 1, Fall 1986.
- Lee Ki-baik. A New History Of Korea. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984.
- Lee Sang-sup. "The Arts and Literature of Korea." The Social Studies 79 (July-August 1988): 153-60. EJ 376 894.

See also


- Founding myth of Korea
- Taekwondo
- Hapkido
- Famous Korean people
- Hanja
- Hermit kingdom (Korea)
- Jeonju
- Joseon Dynasty
- Korean age reckoning
- Korean Gardens
- Korean name
- Korean Soccer Clubs
- Korean Tea Ceremony
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of Korean birds
- List of mountains in Korea
- List of North Korean companies
- List of South Korean companies
- Music of Korea
- Korean Film and Television
- National treasures of Korea
- Prince Yi Seok
- Provinces of Korea
- Rulers of Korea
- Special cities of Korea
- Traditional Korean thought
- Treaty of Portsmouth
- Triple Intervention
- Japanese Imperialism
- Chinese Imperialism
- First Sino-Japanese War
- Russo-Japanese War

External links


- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ks.html CIA World Factbook Entry for South Korea]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kn.html CIA World Factbook Entry for North Korea]
- [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/krtoc.html Country study South Korea]
- [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/kptoc.html Country study North Korea]
- [http://www.koreaherald.co.kr Korea News]
- [http://hcs.harvard.edu/~yisei/backissues/fall_98/mark_byington.html Korea in Manchuria]
- [http://www.sfkorean.com/eng/main_yp.jsp?grp=K&lp=N Korean communities in the US]
- [http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Information/history1.cfm Pre-20th-Century Korea]
- [http://gias.snu.ac.kr/wthong/publication/paekche/eng/paekch_e.html Paekche of Korea and the origin of Yamato Japan]
- [http://www.shinmiyangyo.org/ Shinmiyangyo, The 1871 U.S. Korea Campaign]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-5/koreas.htm Teaching about the two Koreas]
- [http://www.learn-korean.net Learn Korean]
- [http://www.kpopmusic.co.uk Korean Music]
-

Special characters

Category:Asia Category:East Asia Category:East Asian countries
- Korea Category:Disputed territories zh-min-nan:Tiâu-sián (Khu-pia̍t-ia̍h) ko:한국 ja:朝鮮 simple:Korea

Trade

Trade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Modern traders instead generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money. As a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money (and later credit, paper money and non-physical money) greatly simplified and promoted trade. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade. Trade exists for many reasons. Due to specialization and division of labor, most people concentrate on a small aspect of production, trading for other products. Trade exists between regions because different regions have a comparative advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions' size allows for the benefits of mass production. As such, trade at market prices between locations benefits both locations.

History of trade

Trade originated with the start of communication in prehistoric times. Trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered goods and services from each other. Peter Watson dates the history of long-distance commerce from circa 150,000 years ago. Trade is believed to have taken place throughout much of recorded human history. There is evidence of the exchange of obsidian and flint during the stone age. Materials used for creating jewelry were traded with Egypt since 3000 BCE. The Phoenicians were noted sea traders, travelling across the Mediterranean Sea, and as far north as Britain for sources of tin to manufacture bronze. For this purpose they established trade colonies the Greeks called emporia. From the beginning of Greek civilization until the fall of the Roman empire in the 5th century, a financially lucrative trade brought valuable spice to Europe from the far east, including China. Roman commerce allowed their empire to flourish and endure. Their widespread empire produced a stable and secure transportation network that enabled the shipment of trade goods without fear of significant piracy. The fall of the Roman empire, and the succeeding dark ages brought instability to western europe and a near collapse of the trade network. Nevertheless some trade did occur. The Radhanites were a medieval guild of Jewish merchants who allowed trade between the Christians in Europe and the Muslims of the near east. From the 8th century to the 11th century centuries, the Vikings and Varangians traded as they sailed from and to Scandinavia. Vikings sailed to Western Europe, while Varangians to Russia. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading cities that maintained a trade monopoly over most of Northern Europe and the Baltic, between the 13th and 17th centuries. Baltic Vasco da Gama started the Spice trade in 1498. The spice trade was of major economic importance and helped spur the Age of Exploration. Spices brought to Europe from distant lands were some of the most valuable commodities for their weight, sometimes rivaling gold. In the 16th century, Holland was the centre of free trade, imposing no exchange controls, and advocating the free movement of goods. Trade in the East Indies was dominated by Portugal in the 16th century, the Netherlands in the 17th century, and the British in the 18th century. In 1776, Adam Smith published the paper An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. It criticised Mercantilism, and argued that economic specialization could benefit nations just as much as firms. Since the division of labour was restricted by the size of the market, he said that countries having access to larger markets would be able to divide labour more efficiently and thereby become more productive. Smith said that he considered all rationalizations of import and export controls "dupery", which hurt the trading nation at the expense of specific industries. In 1799, the Dutch East India Company, formerly the world's largest company, became bankrupt, partly due to the rise of competitive free trade. In 1817, David Ricardo, James Mill and Robert Torrens showed that free trade might benefit the industrially weak as well as the strong, in the famous theory of comparative advantage. In Principles of Political Economy Ricardo advanced the doctrine still considered the most counterintuitive in economics: : When an inefficient producer sends the merchandise it produces best to a country able to produce it more efficiently, both countries benefit. The ascendancy of free trade was primarily based on national advantage in the mid 19th century. That is, the calculation made was whether it was in any particular country's self-interest to open its borders to imports. John Stuart Mill proved that a country with monopoly pricing power on the international market could manipulate the terms of trade through maintaining tariffs, and that the response to this might be reciprocity in trade policy. Ricardo and others had suggested this earlier. This was taken as evidence against the universal doctrine of free trade, as it was believed that more of the economic surplus of trade would accrue to a country following reciprocal, rather than completely free, trade policies. This was followed within a few years by the infant industry scenario developed by Mill anticipated New Trade Theory by promoting the theory that government had the "duty" to protect young industries, although only for a time necessary for them to develop full capacity. This became the policy in many countries attempting to industrialize and out-compete English exporters. The Great Depression was a major economic recession that ran from 1929 to 1941. During this period, there was a great drop in trade and other economic indicators. The lack of free trade was considered by many as a principal cause of the depression, and World War II. During the war, in 1944, 44 countries signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, intended to prevent national trade barriers, to avoid depressions. It set up rules and institutions to regulate the international political economy: the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (later divided into the World Bank and Bank for International Settlements). These organizations became operational in 1946 after a enough countries ratified the agreement. In 1947, 23 countries agreed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to promote free trade. Free trade advanced further in the late 20th century and early 2000s:
- 1992 European Union lifted barriers to internal trade in goods and labour.
- January 11994 NAFTA took effect
- 1994 The GATT Marrakech Agreement specified formation of the WTO.
- January 11995 World Trade Organization was created to facilitate free trade, by mandating mutual most favoured nation trading status between all signatories.
- As of mid-2005, there is a proposal for a Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would also include the United States and the Domincan Republic.

Development of money

Main article: History of money The first instances of money were objects with intrinsic value. This is called commodity money and includes any commonly-available commodity that has intrinsic value; historical examples include pigs, rare seashells, whale's teeth, and (often) cattle. In medieval Iraq, bread was used as an early form of money. In Mexico under Montezuma cocoa beans were money. [http://www.foodrevolution.org/slavery_chocolate.htm] Montezuma]] Currency was introduced as a standardized money to facilitate a wider exchange of goods and services. This first stage of currency, where metals were used to represent stored value, and symbols to represent commodities, formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. Numismatists have examples of coins from the earliest large-scale societies, although these were initially unmarked lumps of precious metal. Ancient Sparta minted coins from iron to discourage its citizens from engaging in foreign trade. The system of commodity money in many instances evolved into a system of representative money. In this system, the material that constitutes the money itself had very little intrinsic value, but none the less such money achieves significant market value through being scarce as an artifact.

See also


- Silent trade
- Roman commerce
- The Silk Route, Amber Road and other trade routes
- slave trade, fur trade, cod trade
- The rise of banking
- History of international trade
- Merchant adventurers and trading companies: British East India Company, Muscovy Company, Virginia Company, Hudson's Bay Company and others
- Mercantilism
- Industrial Revolution, Second Industrial Revolution
- Capitalism
- Innovations in transport
- Colonialism and neo-colonialism
- Commodities, goods and intellectual property
- E-commerce
- Globalization
- Categories
  - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Currency Category:Currency]

Current trends

Doha rounds

The Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations aims to lower barriers to trade around the world, with a focus on making trade fairer for developing countries. Talks have been hung over a divide between the rich, developed countries, and the major developing countries (represented by the G20). Agricultural subsidies are the most significant issue upon which agreement has been hardest to negotiate. The Doha round began in Doha, Qatar, and negotiations have subsequently continued in: Cancun, Mexico; Geneva, Switzerland; and Paris, France.

China

Beginning around 1978, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) began an experiment in economic reform. Previously the Communist nation had employed the Soviet-style centrally planned economy, with limited results. They would now utilize a more market-oriented economy, particularly in the so-called Special Economic Zones located in the Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan. The results of this reform has been spectacularly successful. By 2004, the GDP of the nation has quadrupled since 1978 and foreign trade exceeded $1 Trillion US. This occurred in spite of the backlash from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The PRC maintains a $30 billion trade surplus, and is rapidly becoming a leader in industrial manufacturing. In 1991 the PRC joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, a free-trade organization. More recently, in 1999 they also joined the World Trade Organization. See also: Economy of the People's Republic of China

International trade

International trade is the exchange of goods and services across national borders. In most countries, it represents a significant part of GDP. While international trade has been present throughout much of history (see Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance have increased in recent centuries, mainly because of Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing. In fact, it is probably the increasing prevalence of international trade that is usually meant by the term "globalization". Empirical evidence for the success of trade can be seen in the contrast between countries such as South Korea, which adopted a policy of export-oriented industrialization, and India, which historically had a more closed policy (although it has begun to open its economy, as of 2005). South Korea has done much better by economic criteria than India over the past fifty years, though its success also has to do with effective state institutions. Trade sanctions against specific country are sometimes imposed, in order to punish that country for some action. An embargo, a severe form of externally imposed isolation, is a blockade of all trade by one country on another. For example, the United States has had an embargo against Cuba for about 40 years. Although there are usually few trade restrictions within countries, international trade is usually regulated by governmental quotas and restrictions, and often taxed by tariffs. Tariffs are usually on imports, but sometimes countries may impose export tariffs or subsidies. All of these are called trade barriers. If a government removes all trade barriers, a condition of free trade exists. A government that implements a protectionist policy establishes trade barriers. The fair trade movement, also known as the trade justice movement, promotes the use of labour, environmental and social standards for the production of commodities, particularly those exported from the Third and Second World's to the First World. Standards may be voluntaril