section_path: Europe/Christians and Christendom/Mercantile capitalism/Trade and the new economy
section_name: Trade and the new economy
paragraph_text: Trade and the new economy
  
  In the Old World, the most desired trading goods were gold, silver, and spices. Western Europeans used the compass, new sailing ship technologies, new maps, and advances in astronomy to seek a viable trade route to Asia for valuable spices that Mediterranean powers could not contest.