Editor's Note: Over the next several months, RANE will explore the shifting patterns of global trade, and how these impact — and are impacted by — the changing global order. Through this series, RANE will provide an in depth analysis of these critical trends, offering insights into their geopolitical and economic implications. "The success of the Portuguese expansion east was spectacular, although it was bought at a high cost in human life on the long voyage around Africa and a high cost in ships. Yet it finished the Arab world as a major actor in world affairs until the discovery of oil there in the twentieth century." —Peter J. Hugill, "World Trade Since 1431: Geography, Technology, and Capitalism" (1993) Trade has always played a key role in global geopolitical developments, whether in response to shifting power and technology or in driving such shifts.