Development of early routes Early development Long-distance trade routes were developed in the
Chalcolithic period. The period from the middle of the 2nd millennium
BCE to the beginning of the
Common Era saw societies in Southeast Asia, Western Asia, the Mediterranean, China, and the Indian subcontinent develop major transportation networks for trade. One of the vital instruments which facilitated long-distance trade was
portage and the domestication of
beasts of burden. Organized caravans, visible by the 2nd millennium BCE, could carry goods across a large distance as fodder was mostly available along the way. Caravans were useful in long-distance trade largely for carrying luxury goods, the transportation of cheaper goods across large distances was not profitable for caravan operators. With productive developments in iron and bronze technologies, newer trade routes – dispensing innovations of civilizations – began to rise.
Maritime trade , a large Javanese vessel from the 11th−17th century. Shown with the characteristic
tanja sail of Southeast Asian
Austronesians. s'
Indian Ocean trade would have depended on coastal cargo-ships such as this
dhow. Navigation was known in
Sumer between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BCE. In Asia, the earliest evidence of maritime trade was the
Neolithic trade networks of the
Austronesian peoples among which is the
lingling-o jade industry of the
Philippines,
Taiwan, southern
Vietnam and peninsular
Thailand. It also included the long-distance routes of Austronesian traders from
Indonesia and
Malaysia connecting
China with
South Asia and the
Middle East since approximately 500 BCE. It facilitated the spread of Southeast Asian spices and Chinese goods to the west, as well as the spread of
Hinduism and
Buddhism to the east. This route would later become known as the
Maritime Silk Road, although that is a misnomer, since spices, rather than silk, were traded along this route. Many Austronesian technologies like the
outrigger and
catamaran, as well as Austronesian ship terminologies, still persist in many of the coastal cultures in the
Indian Ocean. Maritime trade began with safer coastal trade and evolved with the manipulation of the monsoon winds, soon resulting in trade crossing boundaries such as the
Arabian Sea and the
Bay of Bengal.
South Asia had multiple maritime trade routes which connected it to
Southeast Asia, thereby making the control of one route resulting in maritime monopoly difficult. A Roman trading vessel could span the Mediterranean in a month at
one-sixtieth the cost of
over-land routes.
Visible trade routes , Inset A shows the major prehistorical cultural currents, B: pre-
Mauryan routes, C: Mauryan routes, D: routes , and E: the Z-shaped region of developed roads. The peninsula of
Anatolia lay on the commercial land routes to Europe from Asia as well as the sea route from the Mediterranean to the
Black Sea. Records from the 19th century BCE attest to the existence of an
Assyrian merchant colony at
Kanesh in
Cappadocia (now in modern
Turkey). Parts of the Mediterranean world,
Roman Britain,
Tigris-Euphrates river system and North Africa fell under the reach of this network at some point of their history. The incense trade flourished from South Arabia to the Mediterranean between roughly the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE. This trade was crucial to the economy of
Yemen and the
frankincense and
myrrh trees were seen as a source of wealth by its rulers.
Ptolemy II Philadelphus, emperor of
Ptolemaic Egypt, may have forged an alliance with the
Lihyanites in order to secure the incense route at
Dedan, thereby rerouting the incense trade from Dedan to the coast along the Red Sea to Egypt.
I. E. S. Edwards connects the
Syro-Ephraimite War to the desire of the
Israelites and the
Aramaeans to control the northern end of the Incense route, which ran up from Southern Arabia and could be tapped by commanding
Transjordan.
Gerrha – inhabited by
Chaldean exiles from
Babylon – controlled the Incense trade routes across Arabia to the Mediterranean and exercised control over the trading of
aromatics to Babylon in the 1st century BCE. The
Nabateans exercised control over the routes along the Incense Route, and their hold was challenged – without success – by
Antigonus Cyclops, emperor of Syria. The Nabatean control over trade further increased and spread in many directions. According to Milo Kearney (2003) "The South Arabs in protest took to pirate attacks over the Roman ships in the
Gulf of Aden. In response, the Romans destroyed Aden and favored the Western Abyssinian coast of the Red Sea." Indian ships sailed to Egypt as the maritime routes of Southern Asia were not under the control of a single power. Hatchet shaped copper currency was produced by the
Peruvian people, in order to obtain valuables from
pre Columbian Ecuador. According to Vadime Elisseeff (2000): The Silk Roads led to the creation of a merchant class urban centers and the growth of trade-based economies. Among the frequented routes of the Silk Route was the
Burmese route extending from
Bhamo, which served as a path for
Marco Polo's visit to
Yunnan and Indian Buddhist missions to
Canton in order to establish
Buddhist monasteries. This route – often under the presence of hostile tribes – also finds mention in the works of
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani. One of the important trade routes of the world, this road has been a strategic artery with
fortresses, halting posts,
wells,
post offices,
milestones and other facilities. Emperor Sher Shah widened and realigned the road to other routes, and provided approximately 1700 roadside
inns through his empire. Bridges, pathways and newer inns were constructed by the British for the first thirty-seven years of their reign since the occupation of
Punjab in 1849. "Along this road marched not only the mighty armies of conquerors, but also the caravans of traders, scholars, artists, and common folk. Together with people, moved ideas, languages, customs, and cultures, not just in one, but in both directions. At different meeting places – permanent as well as temporary – people of different origins and from different cultural backgrounds, professing different faiths and creeds, eating different foods, wearing different clothes, and speaking different languages and dialects would meet one another peacefully. They would understand one another's food, dress, manner, and etiquette, and even borrow words, phrases, idioms and, at times, whole languages from others."
Amber Road The Amber Road was a European trade route associated with the trade and transport of
amber. Amber satisfied the criteria for long-distance trade as it was light in weight and was in high demand for ornamental purposes around the Mediterranean. Under the reign of
Tiberius Caesar Augustus, the Amber Road was straightened and paved according to the prevailing urban standards. Roman towns began to appear along the road, initially founded near the site of
Celtic oppida. The prolonged struggle between the Romans and the barbarians further left its mark on the towns along the Amber Road.
Via Maris (red), and other ancient Levantine trade routes, c. 1300 BCE Via Maris, literally
Latin for "the way of the sea", was an ancient highway used by the Romans and the
Crusaders. The states controlling the Via Maris were in a position to grant access for trade to their own citizens and collect tolls from the outsiders to maintain the trade route. The name
Via Maris is a Latin translation of a
Hebrew phrase related to
Isaiah. Early Muslim writings confirm that the people of
West Africa operated a sophisticated network of trade, usually under the authority of a monarch who levied taxes and provided bureaucratic and military support to his kingdom. Sophisticated mechanisms for the economic and political development of the involved African areas were in place before
Islam further strengthened trade, towns and government in western Africa. Long-distance maritime trade in the Indian Ocean were first established by the
Austronesian peoples of
Island Southeast Asia. This trade network also included smaller trade routes within
Island Southeast Asia, including the
lingling-o jade network, and the
trepanging network. In eastern
Austronesia, various traditional maritime trade networks also existed. Among them was the ancient
Lapita trade network of
Island Melanesia; the ancient trading voyages in
Micronesia between the
Mariana Islands and the
Caroline Islands (and possibly also
New Guinea and the
Philippines); and the vast inter-island trade networks of
Polynesia.
Roman-India routes The
Ptolemaic dynasty (305 to 30 BCE) had initiated
Greco-Roman maritime trade contact with India using the Red Sea ports. The Roman historian
Strabo mentions a vast increase in trade following the Roman annexation of Egypt, indicating that monsoon was known and manipulated for trade in his time. By the time of
Augustus up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from
Myos Hormos to India, trading in a diverse variety of goods.
Berenice Troglodytica and Myos Hormos were the principal Roman ports involved in this maritime trading network, while the Indian ports included
Barbaricum,
Barygaza,
Muziris and
Arikamedu. The Indians were present in
Alexandria and the Christian and
Jewish settlers from Rome continued to live in India long after the fall of the Roman empire, which resulted in Rome's loss of the
Red Sea ports, previously used to secure trade with India by the Greco-Roman world since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, this was to change with the development of Hanseatic trade, as a result of which German traders became prominent in the
Baltic and the
North Sea regions. Following the death of
Eric VI of Denmark, German forces attacked and sacked Denmark, bringing with them artisans and merchants under the new administration which controlled the Hansa regions. During the third quarter of the 14th century the Hanseatic trade faced two major difficulties: economic conflict with the
Flanders and hostilities with Denmark. These events led to the formation of an organized association of Hanseatic towns, which replaced the earlier union of German merchants. He further sets the date of dissolution of the Hansa at 1630 Scholar
Georg Friedrich Sartorius published the first
monograph regarding the community in the early years of the 19th century.), developed their own "empires" in the
Mediterranean shores. From the 8th until the 15th century, Venetian and genoese merchants held the monopoly of European trade with the Middle East. The
silk and
spice trade, involving
spices,
incense,
herbs,
drugs and
opium, made these Mediterranean city-states phenomenally rich. Spices were among the most expensive and demanded products of the Middle Ages. They were all imported from Asia and Africa. Muslim traders – mainly descendants of Arab sailors from
Yemen and
Oman – controlled maritime routes throughout the Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the
Far East and shipping for trading emporiums in India, westward to
Ormus in
Persian Gulf and
Jeddah in the
Red Sea. From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. Venetian merchants distributed then the goods through Europe until the rise of the
Ottoman Empire, that eventually led to the
fall of Constantinople in 1453, barring Europeans from important combined-land-sea routes.
Spice Route and trade routes (blue) since
Vasco da Gama's 1498 journey and the Spanish
Manila-Acapulco galleons trade routes (white) established in 1568 As trade between India and the
Greco-Roman world increased spices became the main import from India to the Western world, bypassing silk and other commodities. The Indian commercial connection with South East Asia proved vital to the merchants of Arabia and Persia during the 7th and 8th centuries. The
Abbasids used Alexandria,
Damietta,
Aden and
Siraf as entry ports to India and China. Merchants arriving from India in the port city of Aden paid tribute in form of
musk,
camphor,
ambergris and sandalwood to
Ibn Ziyad, the
sultan of Yemen. Indian exports of spices find mention in the works of Ibn Khurdadhbeh (850 CE), al-Ghafiqi (1150), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi (14th century). The wealth of the
Indies was now open for the Europeans to explore; the
Portuguese Empire was one of the early European empires to grow from spice trade.
Maritime Silk Road The Maritime Silk Road refers to the
maritime section of historic
Silk Road that connects
China,
Southeast Asia, the
Indian subcontinent,
Arabian Peninsula,
Somalia and all the way to
Egypt and finally
Europe. It flourished between 2nd-century BCE and 15th-century CE. Despite its association with China in recent centuries, the Maritime Silk Road was primarily established and operated by
Austronesian sailors in Southeast Asia, and by
Persian and
Arab traders in the
Arabian Sea. The route was influential in the early spread of
Hinduism and
Buddhism to the east. China later built its own fleets starting from the
Song dynasty in the 10th century, participating directly in the trade route up until the end of the
Colonial Era and the collapse of the
Qing dynasty. The entry of harmful foreign pollutants by the way of trade routes has been a cause of alarm during the modern times. A conservative estimate stresses that future damages from harmful animal and plant diseases may be as high as 134 billion US dollars in the absence of effective measures to prevent the introduction of unwanted pests through various trade routes.
Railway routes The 1844 Railway act of England compelled at least one
train to a station every day with the third class fares priced at a
penny a mile. Trade benefited as the workers and the lower classes had the ability to travel to other towns frequently. Suburban communities began to develop and towns began to spread outwards. The efficient use of rail routes helped in the unification of the
United States of America, According to the
Encyclopædia Britannica (2002): Railroads reached their maturity in the early 20th century, as trains carried the bulk of land freight and passenger traffic in the
industrialized countries of the world. By the mid-20th century, however, they had lost their preeminent position. The private automobile had replaced the railroad for short passenger trips, while the airplane had usurped it for long-distance travel, especially in the United States. Railroads remained effective, however, for transporting people in high-volume situations, such as commuting between the centres of large cities and their suburbs, and medium-distance travel of less than about 300 miles between urban centres. Although railroads have lost much of the general-freight-carrying business to semi-trailer trucks, they remain the best means of transporting large volumes of such bulk commodities as coal, grain, chemicals, and ore over long distances. The development of
containerization has made the railroads more effective in handling finished merchandise at relatively high speeds. In addition, the introduction of piggyback flatcars, in which truck trailers are transported long distances on specially-designed cars, has allowed railroads to regain some of the business lost to trucking.
Modern road networks in
Los Angeles, California The advent of
motor vehicles created a demand for better use of highways. Roads evolved into two way roads,
expressways,
freeways and
tollways during the modern times. Existing roads were developed and highways were designed according to intended use. Modern highways, such as the
Trans-Canada Highway,
Highway 1 (Australia) and
Pan-American Highway allowed transport of goods and services across great distances. Automobiles continue to play a crucial role in the economies of the Industrialized countries, resulting in rise of businesses such as motor freight operation and truck transportation. This trend is especially notable since there has been a growth in vehicles and vehicle miles traveled by automobiles using these highways. The strategic advantages of port cities as trading centers are many: they are both less dependent on vital connections and less vulnerable to blockages. Modern maritime trade routes – sometimes in the form of artificial
canals like the
Suez Canal – had visible impact on the economic and political standing of nations. Other
waterways, like the
Panama Canal played an important role in the histories of many nations. Inland water transportation remained significantly important even as the advent of railroads and automobiles resulted in a steady decline of canals. Waterway commerce was historically important to Europe, particularly to Russia.
Oil spills are recorded both in case of maritime routes and pipeline routes to the main refineries. The
21st Century Maritime Silk Road is a current project of the Chinese government to expand and intensify trade on the maritime
Silk Road. This is leading to major investments in ports, traffic routes and other infrastructure in Europe and Africa as well. The maritime silk road essentially runs from the Chinese coast to
Singapore and
Kuala Lumpur, via the Sri Lankan Colombo towards the southern tip of India, to the East African
Mombasa, from there to
Djibouti, then via the
Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there via
Haifa,
Istanbul and
Athens to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of
Trieste with its international free port and its rail connections to
Central and
Eastern Europe and the North Sea.
Free trade areas Historically, many governments followed a policy of protection of trade. International
free trade became visible in 1860 with the Anglo-French commercial treaty, and the trend gained further momentum during the period after World War II. People have come to use air transport both for long and middle distances, with the average route length of long distances being 720 kilometers in Europe and 1220 kilometers in the US. This industry annually carries 1.6 billion passengers worldwide, covers a 15 million kilometer network, and has an annual turnover of 260 billion dollars. In 1998, 50 pure cargo-service companies operated internationally. Examples of modern pipeline transport include
Alashankou–Dushanzi Crude Oil Pipeline and
Iran-Armenia Natural Gas Pipeline. International pipeline transport projects, like the
Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline, presently connect modern nation states – in this case,
Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey – through pipeline networks. In some select cases, pipelines can even transport solids, such as coal and other minerals, over long distances; short-distance transportation of goods such as grain, cement, concrete, solid wastes, pulp etc. is also feasible. ==Notes==