Trade and Commerce in the Ancient World

Introduction

For many centuries, agriculture was the primary means of living for early civilizations. The earliest civilizations had little contact with one another, and trade and commerce were limited. Ultimately, these independent civilizations developed specialties that took advantage of their natural resources or the technical skills of their people, and eventually, the various civilizations began to exchange ideas, skills, and commodities.

Exchanges of commodities were facilitated by trade routes. Initially, these trade routes were quite short, often from one village to the next. Whether over water or land, trade routes reflected the conditions and attitudes of the times. A road, for example, had to interact closely and carefully with the terrain and communities through which it passed, with changing vehicle technology, and with the various aptitudes and frailties of the individual drivers and riders. Harbors had to be located in places to which consumers or merchants want to have merchandise shipped. Eventually, municipalities with popular harbors discovered that a tax could be imposed on ships entering the harbor, so taxes and tariffs came into being.

The existence of trade routes and the related commerce led first to increased barter between cultures, then to the need for monetary exchange, and later to the development of large businesses (caravans and fleets) that were devoted to international trade. These large businesses, in turn, led to the need for greater accountability. The entire profession of accounting developed along with the expansion of trade on the various trade routes. For example, a small business with a single owner did not need an elaborate accounting system; however, a large caravan, ship, or fleet, probably financed by someone other than the traveler, had to be able to provide a proper accounting of all monies invested and profits earned. Some of the accounting documents from trade caravans and voyages—in the form of clay, papyrus, and paper—have survived to the present day. It is through those accounting records that historians have been able to learn the details of the early trade routes.

Many archaeologists believe that the entire concept of writing developed around 8000 b.c.e. along with accounting and trade. There was no need for writing until the problem arose of dealing with merchants situated long distances away. This led to a need for an internal control system so that a consignor could notify a consignee of what merchandise had been placed aboard a ship or on a caravan. These documents, originally in the form of baked clay, ultimately evolved into writing as notations for goods became standardized. These earliest clay symbols of trade goods were tokens, or counters, and the later form that started in about 3100 b.c.e. were clay tablets. It is this later form that is most often associated with writing, but the earlier tokens were used for similar purposes.

The spread of the Arabic numbering system was also a result of trade routes. The Romans used what is known today as Roman numerals, but these were somewhat limiting for trade purposes because they could not be added or subtracted in a columnar manner. Therefore, Arabic numerals quickly replaced the Roman numerals once they were introduced by traders into Europe. Arabic numerals actually originated in India, but the trade route passed through Arabia, so the Europeans thought that the new numbering system came from Arabia, and the name stuck.

The Tigris-Euphrates Valley

From their beginnings more than 7,000 years ago, the Chaldean-Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian civilizations produced some of the earliest surviving business records. Various types of small industries and service businesses and extensive trade soon developed both within and outside the Mesopotamian valley. Banks existed in ancient Sumer and Babylonia, and the concept of credit was well known. The cities of Babylon and Nineveh were known as the queens of commerce. Formal legal codes made the recording of business transactions mandatory. The best known legal code, Hammurabi's Code (r. 1792-1750 b.c.e.), required agents selling goods for a merchant to give the merchant a sealed memorandum listing prices. If this was not done, the agreement was unenforceable. Therefore, even the smallest of transactions were put in writing. As a result, Babylonians became obsessive bookkeepers. The scribe, the predecessor of today’s accountant, was an indispensable part of society.

Babylonian scribes were also sent to distant parts of the kingdom to collect taxes for the royal treasury. The taxes were usually paid in the form of cattle, cereals, or other commodities. The same scribes then saw to it that the tax payments were sold or used by the royal family. There are also examples of royal audits of the scribes’ work.

Early Chinese commerce

Governments contributed to the success of early Chinese commerce through the development of financial administration and accountability. During the Xia Dynasty (c. 2100-1600 b.c.e.) and the Shang Dynasty (1600-1066 b.c.e.), money was being coined, and a centralized banking system was in use. A bureau of currency and produce exchange acted as a sort of buffer in the commodity markets to provide loans and purchase unsalable goods. These unsalable goods were stored in government granaries until needed for relief purposes. By the time of the Zhou Dynasty (1066-256 b.c.e.), the Chinese systems of budgeting and audit were the best in the world.

Trade routes

Early trade routes, often nothing more than walking trails, were short in length, connecting one tribe or clan to another. Eventually, as donkeys and camels were domesticated, the trade routes lengthened. Virtually all civilizations had trade routes of some type. In some places, such as North America, beasts of burden were not available, thus limiting the length of trade routes and the extent of trade.

One of the earliest civilizations to develop primarily because of a trade route (rather than agriculture) was on the Greek island of Crete in about 2600 b.c.e. The people of Crete, known as Minoans, traded actively with peoples in the Middle East, Sicily, and continental Greece. Crete was ideally located in the middle of an important sea route. Because of trade, the culture of Greece gradually spread to other lands.

The earliest major trade routes were developed by seafaring peoples. As early as 2750 b.c.e., the Egyptians were sailing their papyrus boats in search of spices, precious stones, and other valuables. Starting in the seventh century b.c.e., Phoenician merchant seamen were searching the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the African coast for opportunities to increase their vast economic empire. Through both military victories and trading expeditions, the ancient Greeks expanded trade to the British Isles and India.

When Mycenaean society broke up around 1100 b.c.e., the commercial routes that had linked mainland Greece with the rest of the Mediterranean were cut. After a period of prolonged recovery, the Greeks began colonizing the shore regions of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Greeks founded settlements in such diverse areas as present-day France, India, Italy, Libya, Portugal, and Turkey. This colonization activity (especially from 750-550 b.c.e.) was propelled by a need for more living space for a rapidly expanding population and the need for new markets. The colonies were able to supply Greece with wheat, meat, dried fish, hides, wool, timber, and basic metals in exchange for mainland finished products such as olive oil and wine.

The Greeks also traded with the peoples of the Scandinavian countries, as evidenced by the Greek coinage found in pre-Viking sites in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. Although Greek coinage has been found in far-flung locations, it is actually Greek pottery that serves as the best evidence of the movements of the ancient Greeks and the distribution of their trade around the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins. Central and northern Italian Etruscan cemeteries have been particularly informative as their tombs have produced thousands of Greek vases. Alternatively, Etruscan goods have rarely been unearthed at Greek sites, which means that Etruria must have traded lump iron, lead, and bronze in exchange for the Greek pottery. Initially, Corinth dominated the pottery trade, but by 525 b.c.e., Athens had established a monopoly in luxury pottery, particularly Attic Black Figures. By 300 b.c.e., Greek manufactured goods were freely circulating to North Africa, Spain, the Rhone Valley, the Balkans, and as far east as India and as far north as Sweden.

Merchants of the Roman Empire played an important role in expanding the empire’s realm. Roman merchants carried on trade with what was then all of the known (Western) world. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, roads were completed and extended across the Alps and into Spain, France, and Germany. Water routes also played a major role in European trading. Early merchants shipped goods on the Seine, Danube, Volga, Don, and Rhine Rivers. Seaports such as Bordeaux and Nantes on the Atlantic coast developed to trade French wine, grain, and honey to Britain, which offered metals for trading. Spain offered oil and lead to complete the Atlantic trading. The Atlantic seaports also offered a haven for the occasional Scandinavian ship packed with ivory trade goods. These European routes continued to be important through medieval times.

Another trade route that traversed Europe was sometimes known as the Amber Road. Extending from amber’s source at the Baltic Sea at Jutland, due south to the Alps, over the Brenner Pass into Italy, or east along the Danube River, the Amber Road served as a path over which semiprecious amber, often used in jewelry, was shipped. Despite the name of the route, amber was usually only a secondary trade item, falling behind tin, silver, and marble, until demand rose under the influence of the Greeks. Even before land routes, amber was a common trade commodity. For example, the Phoenicians had traded amber with Britain and on the western coast of Spain.

African trade

Europe was linked to African trade via the Saharan trade routes. The Saharan trade extended from the sub-Saharan West African kingdoms across the Sahara desert and on to Europe. In fact, the lifeblood of the Ghana empire, located between the upper Niger and Senegal Rivers, just below the Sahara, was trade. Merchants carrying foodstuffs to Ghana would trade them for locally produced goods such as cotton cloth, metal ornaments, leather goods, and the most important commodity of all, gold. Koumbi was the trade center and capital of the Ghana empire. Even though gold was in great supply, there was an inadequacy of salt. The present-day regions of Morocco and Algeria, however, had plenty of salt resources. Not surprisingly, a gold-salt trade developed, and the Arab desert merchants flourished. That trade route extended from the northern city of Sidjilmassa (near the present-day Moroccan-Algerian border), through the salt-rich village of Taghaza, through the Sahara and finally to the gold region of the Ghana empire near the Senegal River. The king of Ghana not only profited from trading but also by means of taxes imposed on traders who used his trade routes. Later, in the Middle Ages, a second major gold-salt route passed through Tunis, Cairo, and ended in Egypt’s interior.

Merchants transported more than commodities along the routes across the Sahara. Islam reached West Africa through the Arab merchants on the Saharan caravan routes. During the Ghana empire, Arab merchants brought the Qur՚ān and the written Arabic language to the traditionally oral cultures in West Africa. Some West African rulers, who understood the importance of trade to their region, converted to Islam to curry favor with the Arab traders.

For many years, Timbuktu, a city in Mali at a bed in the Niger River, was the center of sub-Saharan African trade. Salt was mined in the desert and carried to Timbuktu for transport on the river to distant locales. The city’s wealth eventually made it a great religious and educational site, but it began to decline with the coming of the Portuguese. Actually, Timbuktu is an anomaly in sub-Saharan Africa in that it is one of the few sites of major trade. The people south of the Sahara rarely had any contact with the rest of the world. Even the few rivers that flow from sub-Saharan Africa could not be used as trade routes because of the many high waterfalls along the way. Also, the sub-Saharan Africans seemed to have a fear of venturing out into the ocean, so large seaports did not develop. Therefore, much of Africa, like North America, never developed extensive trade routes. Village-to-village was the extent of most routes.

The Egyptians were the real trade merchants of ancient Africa. The most important extensive trade route, and the earliest, was the Nile River, which was navigable throughout the length of the country. Similarly, the nearby Red Sea gave access to other parts of Africa and the Far East, and the Mediterranean Sea gave the Egyptians access to countries in and around that area. The Egyptians imported timber from Syria and Lebanon; copper came from Cyprus, and tin from Asia and Europe. Other items were imported from Crete and Greece. In return, Egypt exported yarn, fine linen cloth, glass bottles, vases, and paper. Most records of the Greek and Roman empires that have survived to the present day are written on Egyptian paper. Egyptian science and technology were also exported, primarily to Europe. Egyptian inventions that went to Europe include the potter’s wheel, the lock, weaver’s looms, pulleys, pumps, bellows, siphons, and sluice gates.

The spice trade

The trading of spices and herbs has ancient origins and was of great cultural and economic significance. Spices such as cinnamon and ginger have been traded for thousands of years. Cinnamon has been an important trade commodity in the Middle East since at least 2000 b.c.e. Even earlier, southern Arabia was a trading center for frankincense, myrrh, and other resins and gums. Although there were overland routes, it was the sea trade that was the most important in the spice trade. Arabians were making long sea voyages long before the common era, and the Chinese traded throughout the Spice Islands (East Indies). Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was a major trading point.

Eventually, India partially displaced the Arab spice trade with Europe. By 80 b.c.e., Alexandria, Egypt, was the greatest commercial center in the world, primarily because of its role as a middleman in the spice trade between India and Europe. The spice trade led to the development of major trading cities in Europe. The Indian spice trade with Europe dwindled by 600 c.e., whereas the Arab trade endured through the Middle Ages.

Alexandria was not the first trading center in Egypt. As early as 1400 b.c.e., the entire Nile River valley was a trading center. Goods such as gold, clothing, jewels, ivory, leopard skins, giraffe tails, and wood floated down the Nile then were transferred to caravans that traversed the desert regions in all directions. At this time, the Egyptians used donkeys for the transport of goods; horses were brought to Egypt sometime between 1539 and 1295 b.c.e. The domesticated camel was not used as a pack animal in Egypt until after 500 b.c.e.

It should be noted that some trade routes of the spice trade and many other trade routes were used by military regimes on their way to the Crusades. Similarly, the Persian Royal Road, stretching 1,700 miles (2,735 kilometers) from Susa, the ancient capital of Persia, to the Aegean Sea was used by Alexander the Great in his invasion and conquest of the Persian Empire.

The Frankincense Trail

One of the least well-known trading routes is called the Frankincense Trail. For 2,400 years (from about 2000 b.c.e. to 400 c.e.), large caravans snaked across the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula bearing the precious, fragrant resin from spindly frankincense trees, which grow only in the present-day countries of Oman and Yemen. Frankincense burns well because of its natural oil content and also was used for medicinal purposes. The Frankincense Trail led from Qana (Bir Ali) in southern Arabia to Gaza in Palestine, running inland roughly parallel to the Red Sea and covering a total distance of more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers). Myrrh was a similar product, and both were considered as valuable as gold. Supposedly not a temple or wealthy home in Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Jerusalem, or Rome did not require these precious resins. The Romans reportedly kept the prices of frankincense at a high level by using large amounts in cremations.

Those frankincense trade routes and the fortified cities that guarded them have long since disappeared beneath the sands of Oman and Yemen. However, detailed radar topographic maps of the region taken by the space shuttle reveal faint traces of camel caravan trails. Combining this technology with Islamic, biblical, and classical references to the trade caravans led to the discovery of several major sites worthy of excavation. The mysteries of the Frankincense Trail may soon be uncovered with planned excavations at such sites as the recently discovered lost city of Ubar in Yemen, a frankincense hub mentioned in the Bible. Other forts may also be found because the ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder recorded that there were eight fortresses on the Frankincense Trail. Pliny also stated that control of the frankincense trade had made the south Arabians the richest people on earth. Although the frankincense trade soon began to decline, business was sufficient to maintain the wealth of the southern Arabians until at least 600 c.e.

Silk Road

The eastern and western sides of the Asian continent are connected by a series of trade routes known as the Silk Road. The western portion developed earlier than the eastern part because of the development of Persia and Syria as trading centers. Also, the western portion had terrain that was easier to negotiate than did the eastern portion of the continent. In addition, the warring Chinese states kept trade from prospering until about 200 b.c.e. It was a search for military alliances that contributed to the development of the Silk Road in about 138 b.c.e.

The term “Silk Road” is misleading in that there is no single route. The area across Central Asia developed several branches that passed through various oases. Branches led south to India and a northern route led to the Caspian and Black Seas and ended at Byzantium (now Istanbul). Because the northern route was considered more dangerous and expensive to traverse, much of the silk trade traveled by the middle route, which passed through the Persian Gulf and Euphrates Valley and ended in such cities as Damascus. Silk was not the only merchandise carried on the route. Many other commodities were also traded, including ivory, gold, and exotic plants and animals. However, it was silk that seemed the most exotic to Europeans, and that name was applied to the route.

The development of the Silk Road caused problems for the Han rulers of China because of the need for policing the road. Bandits soon learned of the rich merchants plying their trade along the road, and many areas in Central Asia provided easy terrain to assist in the plunder of the caravans. As a result, caravans needed their own defense forces, which added to the cost of the goods being shipped. Portions of the Great Wall of China were reportedly built to protect sections of the Silk Road from plunderers.

The high cost of doing business along the Silk Road and most other trade routes meant that a single merchant was unable to afford to finance not only inventory but also the cost of outfitting and protecting the caravan. As a result, the concept of business partnerships developed. Multiple owners could more easily finance large caravans than could a single merchant. The existence of multiple owners increased the need for accountability. As a result, scribes and other early accountants traveled with the caravans to ensure that all revenues were properly recorded for the benefit of the partners hundreds of miles away.

Few merchants actually traversed the entire Silk Road from east to west. Instead, most simply covered part of the journey and then sold their wares after traveling perhaps less than a couple hundred miles. As a result, goods moved slowly across Asia because they changed hands many times. The various settlements along the road reflected the trade passing through the region. As a result, silk and other exotic commodities from distant areas were common, even in small villages.

Interestingly, many scholars believe that silk and other commodities were not the most important things carried along the Silk Road. Religion, in the form of Buddhism, followed the same route from India to eastern China. Buddhist artwork followed as early as the second century c.e. By the seventh century, the importance of the Silk Road diminished because of the development of the Sea Silk Route (sometimes called the southern silk route). The Sea Silk Route and most other sea routes were generally superior to land routes because land travel was more time-consuming and dangerous because of attacks from bandits and nomadic tribes. Although piracy could be a problem on the seas, it was less of a problem than bandits. Ultimately, the Silk Road became more important for communication purposes than for trade purposes. The Sea Silk Route led from China around the southern tip of India, up the Red Sea, and then overland to the Nile and northern Egypt.

Although the Silk Road was arguably the most important Asian trade route, there were also many others of national and regional significance, including the Ambassador’s Road, the Burma Road, the Royal Road, the Lower Royal Road, the King’s Highway (which started in Egypt), the Eurasian Steppe Route, and various Russian river routes. By the year 200 c.e., there were also routes from India to western Indonesia and other spots in Southeast Asia.

Sea routes to Polynesia

Around 2500 b.c.e., Southeast Asians began to migrate throughout the Pacific. Over the next three thousand years, they had colonized every habitable island in a huge triangle bound by Hawaii on the north, New Zealand on the southwest, and Easter Island to the east. Sturdy 100-foot-long (30-meter) outrigger canoes were apparently used to carry people and trading items across rough seas from island to island.

The maritime skills of the ancient natives of South America also led to trade opportunities with Pacific Islanders. Coconuts were among the first trade goods that crossed portions of the Pacific. Coconut palms originated in South America but are widely known on various Pacific Islands, such as Cocos Island, which is about 300 miles (480 kilometers) off the coast of Costa Rica. Cocos Island is directly on the sea route that would connect Guatemala with Ecuador and Peru, and trade with this island was probably a by-product of sea trade between these countries. The ancient Peruvians built buoyant seaworthy rafts of balsa wood. The secret of the success of such rafts was their ability to rise with any threatening sea, thus staying on top of the dangerous water that might have broken most other small craft. Estimates are that such craft could sail for 4,000 miles (6,440 kilometers) or more (based on the recreation in 1947 by anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl).

Trade routes in the Americas

Trade routes in the Americas were rare and usually short. The lack of beasts of burden in North America meant that trade goods had to be carried by humans. Therefore, most trade was between villages fairly close together. There were some exceptions to this generalization, such as the Turquoise Road of the Southwestern United States. Turquoise mined at a huge underground mine near present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico, was the basis of a large civilization that grew as an extensive complex of towns sometime after 600 c.e. Major trade took place with customers in Mexico over the Turquoise Road, which stretched over the Sierra Madres and extended into the central valley of Mexico. This trade made the Anasazi civilization a wealthy one. The turquoise was valued both as a personal gem and for religious purposes.

Still farther south, in southern Mexico, the Maya civilization had extensive trade routes, not only within their own region but also to outside locales as well. In southern Mexico, the two oceans are quite close together, so some of the Maya trade routes connected the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The Maya originated about 1000 b.c.e. and reached their peak between 600 and 900 c.e. The various trade routes developed over this entire span. Maya society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centers. Therefore, the trade routes were essentially links among the various states.

Trade and civilization

The development of trade and commerce and the associated trade routes did much to advance the state of civilization in the ancient world. Many business practices traversed the same roads over which commodities passed, and some of those practices have continued to the present day. Similarly, conquering armies and the spread of religions also traveled the same routes.

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