Theme
Trade Routes
The great corridors of commerce — the Silk Road, Indian Ocean trade, and the spice routes.
Long before globalization, trade routes linked the world's civilizations. The overland Silk Road carried silk, spices, and ideas between China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean, while monsoon winds powered a vast Indian Ocean network connecting East Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia.
Across the Sahara, camel caravans exchanged West African gold and salt, enriching the empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Maritime states such as Srivijaya and Majapahit grew wealthy controlling the straits through which Asian trade flowed. Wherever goods moved, so did religions, technologies, languages — and diseases.
The search for direct access to these riches ultimately launched the European Age of Discovery, connecting the hemispheres and reshaping global commerce for good.