including headings The market place, Waterborne traffic, The caravan, New routes to the west, Doura-Europus, ...
including headings The sledge, The wagon, Horse and chariot, The great canal of Darius I, Roman roads, ...
The next British expedition to the Niger is almost equally disastrous in terms of loss of life. Four ships under naval command are sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make treaties with local ki...
By the 13th century Mycenaean rulers control to varying degrees the whole of the Peloponnese, together with the eastern side of mainland Greece as far north as Mount Olympus, the large islands of Crete and Rhodes and man...
The first Dutch expedition round the Cape to the far east, in 1595, is captained by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, a Netherlands merchant whose only knowledge of the orient comes from trading in Lisbon. The survivors of thi...
Two developments in the 11th century prove of lasting benefit to Venice, which is by now the leading maritime power in the Adriatic. The first is the appearance of a rival in Italian waters. The Normans drive the Byzanti...
The Phoenicians inhabit the region of modern Lebanon and Syria from about 3000 BC (see Palestine and Phoenicia). They become the greatest traders and the best sailors and navigators of the pre-classical world. They are a...
On the last day of the year 1600 Elizabeth I grants a charter to a 'Company of Merchants trading into the East Indies'. Early voyages prove successful; by 1614 the East India Company owns twenty-four ships. But competit...
The greatest extent of Chinese trade is achieved in the early 15th century when Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, sails far and wide with a fleet of large junks. At various times between 1405 and 1433 he reaches the Persian Gul...
The Portuguese expeditions of the 15th century bring European ships for the first time into regular contact with sub-Saharan Africa. This region has long been the source of slaves for the route through the Sahara to the...
The triangular trade has an economic elegance most attractive to the owners of the slave ships. Each of the three separate journeys making up an expedition is profitable in its own right, with only the 'middle voyage' ac...
The profitable trade in eastern spices is cornered by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the detriment of Venice, which has previously had a virtual monopoly of these valuable commodities - until now brought overland...
The voyage of John Cabot in 1497 directs European attention to the rich stocks of fish in the waters around Newfoundland. Soon fishing fleets from the Atlantic nations of Europe are making annual visits to catch cod. The...
Like Yemen to the southwest, the territory of Oman has always benefited from its fine trading position at the southern extremity of the Arabian peninsula. From here merchants, without needing to sail far from land, can m...
The new diet of settled farmers - predominantly vegetarian, with meat now an occasional luxury - results in one small but significant development. Salt becomes an important commodity in human trade. A physical n...
