	As Liss explains, the coffee trade that The Coffee Trader’s protagonist, Miguel, takes part in was only possible due to the emerging global commodity exchange market. Coffee supplies in Amsterdam were limited at best. Coffee beans needed to be imported to Amsterdam for Miguel’s plan of a coffee monopoly to even begin. To accomplish such a task, connections in other parts of Europe was essential. Without foreign brokers located in countries where the coffee fruit was abundant, it would have been impossible to even dream of having a stable business selling coffee at the Exchange. With brokers in place and other merchants willing to help him in his coffee quest, Miguel was able to successfully sell coffee – a relatively unknown commodity to the general public – and make a large profit from it.
	Unfortunately, there also were drawbacks to marketplaces going global. As with any business, competition existed. All merchants wanted to make the biggest profit possible. This caused some to embark upon less than virtuous practices under the notion that the end justified the means. Even the protagonist of The Coffee Trader commits some not so honorable acts in order to save his reputation and ensure that his coffee trade plan succeeds. Characters of all kinds in the novel were able to commit deeds similar to Miguel’s without second thought. The expansion of the marketplace led even those of the same kinship and creed against one another. Race, religion, and nationality did not matter; profit and one’s good reputation were the only important things. 
	The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions of the late 1400s were horrible things for Jews to witness. Their religion was tolerated at the beginning, but eventually they were exiled and most were forced to relocate to another country. This meant that Jews had to spread around to many different nations to truly be safe. Because kinship knows no boundaries, people of similar faith kept in contact with one another and began to build contracts with each other in order to gain the various commodities located in each other’s country of residence. By and large, this meant the people of the world were now able to get their hands on resources that would normally be impossible. Thus I conclude that the practice of a trade diaspora was a welcome change to the world.
