PART II

Trade

A Historical Perspective

When businesspeople talk about history, many discussions cite Henry Ford, the great U.S. automobile industrialist, who is credited for his ­statement, “History is bunk.” Many senior executives echo Ford’s remark in their strategic planning and decision-making circles as they proclaim the need to chart new courses of action, reminding their shareholders and organization teams that the world is changing and so must they. But if one takes the time to review his entire statement given in an interview published in the Chicago Tribune on May 25, 1916,1 his words demonstrate that we can understand nothing except through the application of the surrounding context. What he actually said was, “History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”2 Ford’s commentary was given in the middle of World War I and his reference was to the dangerous devotion to the customs of the past preventing one from grappling with the present environment. He was pointing that European leaders knew history, yet they still blundered into war and their mistake was relying on tradition as a guide to the future. Ford’s point was that beliefs and customs based on ritual thinking is the problem, not history. Ford would probably agree that if one studies history, one would learn something valuable. Still many quotes negate looking backward before proceeding forward.

John Nance Garner, vice president of the United States from 1933 to 1941, the period just preceding World War II, purportedly exclaimed that the lessons of history are worth a pitcher of warm piss. The value of studying history is even questioned in our modern cultural music, as ­evidenced by the song History Will Teach Us Nothing, made popular by Sting in 1987 from the album Nothing Like the Sun.3 On the other hand, Confucius wrote, “Study the past, if you would define the future.”4 This profound observation was echoed by Winston Churchill centuries later when he stated, “The further backward you look, the further forward you see.”5 The study of history is like looking in a car’s series of mirrors. Unless one plans on backing up they are rarely useful. But if one wants to pass a car ahead of them as the driver negotiates the competitive traffic conditions around him they become useful environmental assessment tools, as the combined overhead and side rearview mirrors contribute to a 360° view and a safer, more carefully orchestrated future maneuver. Today’s global managers need an introduction to business history as it provides a valuable foundation of reference to understand and appreciate the framework that the modern world is constructed on. How the world commercial system developed, the players involved, and the political, social, and economic nuances it handled over time provide the clues to handling today’s complex global environment. While history does not always repeat itself its lessons provide for a better understanding for the managers of tomorrow. The Chinese have a saying: “If you don’t have an old man, go out and buy one.” The past is a valuable alley for appreciating the present. It is the parchment on which the history of today is written.

A historical business view of the ancient world reveals that many areas of the globe were in fact touched by the trading practices of ancient merchants and they all had a hand in establishing a number of the ­guiding principles that modern-day managers continue to utilize. Today’s ­managers work in the modern era of globalization. To successfully lead their far-flung geographical enterprises, they must become good global citizens. They would be well advised to heed the 1,400-year-old refrain attributed to Socrates when he declared he was neither an Athenian nor a Greek but should be considered a citizen of the world.6 The Greek-­inspired philosophical idea that while one’s feet should be planted in a specific country, one’s eyes should survey the world shows us that, even today, managerial knowledge and understanding must encompass a broad view. It needs to include a historical perspective of how trade relationships around the world developed as it is upon such prior associations that the current ones will be based. How commercial models, trade systems, and business approaches were first used provides a platform of appreciation on which the current principles can be better constructed and used.

CHAPTER 3

The Beginning of Recorded Trade

Before examining the beginning of recorded trade as practiced by specific recognized civilizations around the world, it is important to keep in mind that the present continues to reflect the past. All of the essential products and services that people required to survive, grow, and prosper have always, and will continue to be, supplied, through the process of exchange. This system devised by mankind has existed from the beginning of human time on earth. Having begun with the simple activity called barter in antiquity, one thing for another, the mechanism man devised to satisfy his mutual need satisfaction continues today. This ­coordinated integrated effort over history has risen to a level, an unmatched scope and scale, not seen before; and we call it globalization. The ancient exchange between two people has morphed into, and been replaced by, groups of commercial institutions called multinational corporations (MNCs) or the more refined term transnational corporations, the actions of which are ­controlled or regulated to a degree by national governments and states ­acting in unison. These global-reach organizations are also influenced by the mandates of the consuming worldwide public as well as ­nongovernmental and religious bodies.

Before the advent of the word globalization, the term applied to a growing worldwide commercialization was international business. Before that, it was called by varying regional names including conjoined land masses or bodies of shared waters like the Mediterranean. Prior to such geographical classification jargon, it was referred to as cross-territorial trade where such demarcations existed even earlier as exchange with foreigners.

When Did Trade Begin?

Whichever expression is used, the process itself, trade across ­distances, began epochs before formal kingdoms or nation-states existed. Archaeologists figure out how past civilizations lived from a variety of unearthed sources, sometimes the tiniest of clues that reveal the relationships ancient people had with each other. They continue to uncover ­artifacts from ­excavation sites that indicate that the material composition, the skilled construction of relics, or both could not have been locally obtained; they had to come from territories not just adjacent but from areas requiring their transport from faraway lands.

It is difficult to arrive at a specific period in human history when long distance cross-regional trade first began. Researchers are continuously discovering signs in digs that suggest exchanges of land-based resources occurred earlier than once thought. Using more sophisticated DNA ­analysis from an archeological site off the Isle of Wright, scientists have determined that wheat was imported into the British Isles 2,000 years before there was evidence of domestic cultivation. Deposits of sediment cores from the excavation site date the find to 8,000 years ago, while agriculture was unknown in Britain until 6,000 years ago.¹ The discovery proposes that trade between English hunter–gatherers and the Neolithic farmers of southern Europe, where the crop was already grown, occurred via some form of an aquatic vessel as this would have been the only way that wheat could have reached these isolated communities. The only other method of transport, the wind carrying seeds across such distance, has been strongly discounted. It is also interesting to note that although a period of 2,000 years separated the importation of wheat and its local ­cultivation, the idea contributes to the first leg of the product lifecycle theory of economic progression wherein products are initially imported and that at a future time they may be produced locally via a learning curve, which in modern terminology is called licensing.

A tool-making workshop, with artifacts dating all the way back to 25,000 BCE, was unearthed at Grotta Sant Angelo in the Abruzzo region of Italy.² It has been surmised that such an extensive workplace would not have been constructed just in ancient times for just local supply but for the production of implements for distribution on a wider scale—being sent to distant locations. Obsidian mined in Corsica during the late-Neolithic period, circa 6000 to 3000 BCE, has been found hundreds of ­kilometers away. Its transport over such distance could only be ­attributable to the resource being valued and exchanged for something in return.³ An ­archaeological team recently uncovered evidence of an ancient harbor on the Red Sea that was used for international trade. While records from around 2490 BCE indicated that the Egyptians traded down the coast of Africa and into the African interior to a land called Punt, the ­physical ­evidence of the location of their embarkation remained a mystery. This discovery confirms the Egyptians’ ability to take long sea voyages as ­scholars were traditionally skeptical of such consideration.⁴

Scientists in Denmark have concluded that recently unearthed glass blue beads were buried alongside women’s bodies from the Bronze Age. They were originally crafted in an ancient royal workshop for King ­Tutankhamun as similar globules have been found in his solid gold death mask as well as in the inlay of the plaited false beard placed on him at burial. Given the short reign of the Egyptian boy king, who died in 1323 BCE, it would place the voyage of these artifacts to this northern European region some 3,400 years ago. Such a find raises the ­possibility that contact between these very distant regions occurred ­thousands of years ago. Historic scholars feel that perhaps such rare exotic glass ­ornaments were brought by emissaries as gifts or tribute to another kingdom or they were traded by merchants traveling in search of bartered treasure. In ancient times, the opening of trade routes between regions was first ­accomplished by envoys or agents of the imperial household. They arranged for the mutual safe conduct of merchants, appointed by rulers to conduct ­business outside their territories, who would follow. This very old method of new market entry, via introduction at a foreign palace of rare and exotic items from the home country, is a market ­penetration principle still practiced today. Those who had access to the royal court would in turn wish to emulate what they saw the monarchs having, approving of, or both, as it raised their stature in the kingdom. Products entering a new market would therefore carry the prestige of these initial users. In turn, others just below their social stature would imitate them, and so on. The idea is to entice customers called influential first movers, those at the top of the consuming pyramid, to become patrons of imported products. They in turn act as inspirational motivators for the next tier of customers with each succeeding level of the population following the lead of those above them as distribution is spread out and the market is totally saturated.

A simple artifact, like a metal coin, can also act as an indicator of very early cross-territorial trade across vast distances. A tiny copper coin dated to the Iron Age, almost 2,300 years ago, was found in Saltford, a town between Bristol and Bath in Southwest England. At such time no forms of coinage were being used in the British Isles. The engraved markings on this ancient regionally used medium of exchange value bears an image of a horse’s head on one side and the Carthaginian goddess Tanit on the other. The find suggests that merchant trading links between Britain and the originally founded Phoenician North African port of Carthage may have existed thousands of years ago. Only eight of these coins have ever been found and interestingly all were discovered on ancient trade routes.⁵

It is also prudent to keep in mind as the beginning of recorded trade is presented that the exchange process contributed to the advancement of the civilizations profiled in this chapter. As previously alluded to, ­archaeologist Charles Standish offers three factors affecting the ­development of people into civilized societies. He lists war, regional trade and specialized labor as factors “that keep coming up as predecessors to civilization.”⁶ The inclusion of the exchange imperative across territories that not only included indigenous products but the cross-offering of unique craft skills and ­abilities of particular workforces, made it necessary for people to form group associations, the precursor for socialization and hence civil advancement.

Civilizations and Recorded Trade

The four cradles of civilization (the Indus region of India, the Mesopotamian plane of Asia, the Nile River in northern Egypt, and the Yangtze river basin in China) created “rising empires [that] imposed a stability that occasionally resulted in greater interaction between states and peoples … the most striking example [of which] is trade.”7 Traveling on the back of the exchange initiative is where people were first brought together. Their interaction resulted in environments where “ideas were tested, challenged, and in many instances changed.”8 Trade became a conduit for the birth and advancement of civilization.

The catalyst for such was brought about by the exchange via commerce, which was orchestrated by merchants who introduced new concepts to the lands where they traded and who carried them back to their home societies. Many scholars reason that the collection of peoples in selected areas of the world—that is, the cradles of civilization, also including the Mesoamerica, the Andes region in the Western Hemisphere, and Crete—possessed distinguishing features that suggested they all had independent origins (a rebuke perhaps to the Atlantis legend as the prime purveyor of other civilizations). However, those civilizations located close to each other, such as Mesopotamia and Egypt, soon came in contact with their respective rulers and the land around them with each civilization seeking to learn as much as possible about the present or potential resources to be found in its neighbors’ territories.9 The human desire to acquire the new and different was achievable either by war or by trade, with the latter imperative harboring a more lasting and less violent impression.

Urban growth, which spawned pockets of expanded communities, was built around trading centers whose administrators were admonished to create stability and permanence—a key requirement of the merchant state and a necessary ingredient in the establishment of the social progression into civilizations. The commercialization process or the exchange of ­alternating embedded goods between people may have been the prime component that helped knit together an area to an intercontinental ­community. Trade fostered the emergence of civilization centers and propelled the development of societies as opposed to a stagnated group of independent lands with limited growth potential. The creation of the first socialized locations such as villages or towns, the early vestiges of cities, tended to bring people together for worship to pay group ­homage to their ancient gods and later to pay allegiance along with ­tribute in product or service to regional rulers. Such gatherings from the fields and woods to a common stage ground soon evolved into trading ­pilgrimages as ­agricultural produce and hunted animals not consumed for basic ­sustenance—the surplus of their life’s daily activities—could be exchanged or bartered for goods from those who pursued and offered ­varied items. This may have been the beginning of the first division of labor leading to the concept of comparative abilities. From such beginnings, specialized artisans developed the ancient field of pottery making, tool crafting, and creating other useful farm implements.

The Western World

Mesopotamia: The Earliest Society

Mesopotamia is an ancient Greek term, which describes a geographical designated location. It literally means the land between two rivers. ­Historians and anthropologists use it to describe the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (the Mesopotamian Plain) and it is the site of the first primitive written records dating about 8000 BCE. It took until 3500 BCE, however, for the symbols to become coherent ­markings ­composed of 1,200 different characters, representing numbers and ­identifying names and objects of personal possession. The ancient ­Sumerians, who lived in the region, called their system of writing ­cuneiform and it was created on clay tablets. The earliest use of such written language was to record the quantity of cows, bolts of cloth, simple tools, and other implements—record keeping. Such personal property or named asset identification name was listed with assigned numbered ­quantities. It had two basic uses: to assign the property to the rightful owner and to assist in the exchange process between a buyer and a seller through bartering. A system of ­ownership and the ability to qualify and quantify objects being exchanged is at the root of the commercial process. Transactional contracts used such designations to establish the legal arrangements between parties. Those schooled in ancient literacy, known for being skilled in the practice of accounting or recording keeping at such time, provided a valued service to royalty and commoners alike. Such scribes were given a special status in early societies. They were ­perhaps the first professional white-collar workers, the forerunner of the modern-day accountant profession, as the majority of ancient populations were ­delegated to manual labor (blue-collar jobs). Today’s ­commercial contracts exhibit many of the rules first used by these ancient scribes. The parties to legal instruments are always stated as the rightful owners of the property to be exchanged while the descriptions of the transactional property are carefully defined and quantified in order for contracts to be valid. Out of this region came a ruler, Hammurabi, who is best known for his monolith code regarding family, land, and commerce (including the ownership and exchange of slaves). It is the oldest known code of secular laws in 1800 BCE. One of the chief tenets of this first set of laws governing society was severe punishments for purposeful malfeasance or fraud in the exchange of property, both land and items (see Chapter 9).

The early Mesopotamian civilization in the Near East, established in 3500 BCE, was primarily made up of agricultural products, the trade in which was essentially local. But the artistic or skill-induced products of the era were commercialized on a broader transcontinental basis via far-flung networks of interregional connections. Objects made from precious and base metals, semiprecious stones, hardwoods, and other exotic raw materials were carried to Afghanistan, the Indus valley, eastern segments of the Mediterranean, and even central Anatolia with merchant traders ­returning from such destinations with bartered items of equal creative content and design. An intermediary basic unit of value for transactions in the form of silver strands or coils of a standard weight, as opposed to goods, was introduced in the ancient Mesopotamia region around 2100 BCE. By snipping off measured segments of the ­standardized metal piece made of silver, the proper amount of worth could be established between buyer and seller. This value apparatus combined a medium of exchange with a measurement device. This ancient system to communize ­transactions between diverse societies based on a commonly accepted denominator of value, which could also be quantified, was the first ­practical financial step in globalizing trade.

During the Assyrian and Babylonian realms of 1900 BCE, trade by authorized crown merchants dominated the cross-territorial process but it began to shift to self-employed entrepreneurs in the latter half of the period. The introduction of intermediaries to transactions as opposed to two familiar singular parties increased the expansion of the trading ­process between distant nonassociated individuals while contributing to the formation of the profit incentive in the procedure, value to be made on the transactional or distribution supply system as opposed to that inherent in the property being exchanged.

Birth of the Merchant Intermediary

Cross-territorial trade in this ancient civilization, and perhaps repeated in other societies of the times, was made possible by the use of carriers who moved between distant locations in return for service payments. Therefore, two principals wishing to engage in the exchange of ­divisible goods but who were unwilling to travel and personally associate with each other would utilize the services of an intermediary, a courier. A bit of trust entered into the process as both the courier and the principal on the receiving end needed to be motivated (offered further inducement) to complete the trade transaction and not abscond with the goods they held at any point. To assure completion, the courier would make a fixed finite number of trips between the principals carrying loads of ever-increasing values, augmenting the trust factor and adding to the profit incentive. In the first period, couriers received a rent or fee based on such values from both buyer and seller but as the operation grew, these middlemen began to trade on their own account, increasing their utility and flexibility, as they did not have to wait to be engaged but could take advantage of changes in trade patterns for specific merchandise. They also began to recognize that a suitable profit could be made in the exchange intermediary process and that their knowledge as well as their long-distance risk taking was a valued enterprise unto itself. From these two considerations, the idea of the impersonal middleman merchant was born. Sometimes, these trade couriers would invite a group of investors to put up capital to be placed at their disposal, as opposed to goods in the original scheme. Such arrangements colloquially then known as a money-bag or naruqqu contract would be established, the forerunner of the modern venture ­capital model. The concept was born out of the idea that these ambitious commercial explorers did not always possess the money to fund their trading expeditions that the monarchy held; hence, such capital-raising techniques via trade partnerships offered to interested parties were made popular. Technically, it was referred to as a naruqqum, named after the legally recognized document creating them.

These agreements contained precise shareholder rights and recited the obligations of all the parties involved. With the expectation that protracted journeys over vast stretches of land and repetitive trading exchanges needed to take place to secure a profit, the arrangement was to last for extended periods, normally 7 to 12 years was anticipated and some were even written for longer terms. Such early documents even ­provided for the appointment of professional managers to oversee the multiple exchange process with periodic reporting to the partners along with the strict maintenance of records for partner inspection. Both concepts were employed by public corporations throughout the eras of globalization that followed. Thousands of years later, the corporate ­capitalism of the ancient world was enlarged by the creation in 1602 of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC), which used the same principles of ownership and managerial construction that the ancient merchants had created. The VOC, as it was colloquially referred to in the 1600s, is considered the world’s first large joint-stock company. Created under the auspices of the Dutch Republic, the state obligated the numerous trading companies created to take individual benefit of the Asian trade boom to merge into a single commercial organization or their trading privileges would be withdrawn.

The objective was to create a mercantilist-induced monopoly with ­private participants sharing in the profits without the state’s interference in return for a modest tax dividend. However, the governmental ­certification of the newly created entity—the right of the state to grant a charter, the legal right to organize and operate as a public company (as well as the financial return due the granting authority), and a tax on profit—provided the basis for the modern incorporation process (see Chapter 7).

The companies placed in this new category of commercial ­enterprise, while able to control their capital investment and far-flung foreign ­activities, were required to adhere to uniform guidelines and practices, a precursor of the state’s role in regulating private enterprise. This was a bridge model for nations to integrate private institutions into their ­imperial global territorial conquests and colonial policy as well as impose rules of conduct over their operational procedures. The concept also served as a blueprint for future relationships between governments and private enterprises. It is also a principle used by transitional economies, albeit in reverse, dismantling communist-style state-owned institutions and moving toward privatization.

The emergence of South Arabian civilizations on the desert margins of modern Yemen around 900 BCE was based on their mercantile ability to carry frankincense, myrrh, and other prized spices to consumers in Mesopotamia and on to, via intercontinental trade merchants, a wider audience (see Chapter 5 and the subsection on the incense and spice trade). Such trade connections introduced the advanced ideas of the north, which included a version of the Canaanite alphabet along with religious symbols and sculptural styles. It allowed this ancient civilization to advance beyond its limited capacity and it was the trading initiative that brought new ideas and the knowledge of others to them.

The early land caravans constructed by these traveling cross-continental merchant agents were the predecessor of East–West trade, which is later referred to as the Spice and Silk Roads. These early merchant traders formed commercial colonies at major trading stations along the routes they had traveled that became self-governing karums ­(independent ­municipalities), some of which were instrumental in ­forming a ­governmental entity that later evolved into city-states.

Trade across Persia was mainly carried out by transient merchants moving from east to west through the early Incense Road, and later, the designated Spice and Silk routes. The Persian Empire itself was a primitive station for such business activities with numerous conflicting trading ­criteria until Darius the Great brought reforms to the commercial ­process. During his reign, a carefully constructed system of common weights and measures was introduced as well as the use of coin as a medium of exchange to replace the difficult and cumbersome barter structure. Up until then the kingdom was beholden to numerous imported ­measurement systems and confusing foreign value methods, which made cross-regional trade difficult. These two innovations in the transactional system helped unify the population while economically propelling the Persian Empire into a stronger civilization.

Egypt and Near Eastern Trade

While Egypt, in the days of the almighty pharaohs, expanded its monarchy on the back of its warrior armies, the continuing strength of its empires was based on the exchange process as war victories secured trading corridors into conquered lands and those bordering them. The early Egyptian economic policy was akin to a command-type ­structure equally employed by the overlords of most ancient kingdoms. The state in the personage of the pharaoh was ruled by divine authority. The ­countrywide authority of the royal house under kings and queens continued even under the domination of Egypt by the Achaemenid Persian Empire and well into the post-Hellenic period after Alexander the Great conquered the land. Upon Alexander’s death, the Ptolemaic system was installed, and the Egyptian economy remained one of the most controlled economies in ancient times. It resembled centuries-later communist ­societies in the Soviet Union and post-Mao China, which planned all labor activities. The city of Alexandria was primarily founded for regional commercial reasons, that is, to take the place of Tyre in Phoenicia, which the ­Macedonian army had destroyed. The massive harbor at Alexandria was built to accommodate the extensive merchant fleet used to export the agricultural surplus of Egypt provided by the Nile River. During the Ptolemic era, Egypt was the world’s supreme grain merchant, a position it retained for centuries, culminating with it for being the chief provider of grain to the Roman Empire. Agents of the king administered the ­exportation of millions of bushels every year, which in turn were routed through the offshore distribution centers in Rhodes and Delos and from such intermediate locations to international markets around the globe.

Almost all Egyptian land was decreed royal land, and only with ­governmental permission could one even fell a tree, breed cattle, or alter the selection of cultivated crops in the field. Royal lands were let out with property leases that often included the leasing of cattle, seed, and tools. In return for the privilege of working such lands, farmers had to plant ­whatever the yearly official schedule required while also sowing each planted crop meticulously as specified by authoritative planners as to ­season and even specific dates. All resource use was recorded and ­decisions as to their expenditures (economic use) were state directed. This command economic system did not account for the individual ­domestic needs of the local farmers, laborers, or artisans, nor did it recognize the idea of the indigenous marketplace to set supply and demand values. Farmers faced severe punishment if they planted without permission, while craftsmen were limited in the moving of their activities to another district. All land was periodically surveyed and all livestock and crops constantly inventoried with precision, while the conduct of all business operations was administered by legions of royal inspectors.

The weaving industry was carefully monitored to assure that all looms were working efficiently. Precious olive-oil production was totally in the hands of the state, and it was illegal for individuals to own, no less ­operate, a press for their private benefit. Even the quasi-luxury spice industry (as certain spices were required for food preservation) was ­supervised, with factory workers strip-searched at the end of their production shifts while the raw material supply network was closely guarded. Barley for beer ­distilling could only be purchased from the state, and the brewer operated under license with profits going to the royal house. In essence, all essential industries were state monopolies, and those outside of such ­objective control were subject to heavy taxation. Commercial enterprises paid not only a percentage of their sales but also were assessed on their asset ­holdings. The exchange of salt was taxed while a tax on dike ­construction and pasture grazing land was required. Those operating public baths were charged one-third of their revenue while fishermen gave up 25 percent of their catch and wineries paid 16 percent of their sales. High import duties to protect local industries were utilized with foreign olive oil subject to a 50 percent tariff and then only saleable to the state at a fixed price, the result of which was limited competition with the locally produced inferior grades. Foreign merchants desirous of doing business in the ­kingdom had to first exchange their foreign metal-based values for the locally acceptable coins to engage in local commercial transactions.

While the economy, and hence the market condition, was ostensibly controlled to benefit and supplement the financial well-being of the royal house, the public image portrayed was to sustain the welfare of the common man by protecting the kingdom from famine, which, short of war, was the most destructive social force in the ancient world. By planning all output and placing all assets and labor used under a common, unified, and directed system, the result was a monopolistic nationalization of the means of production under the guise of state socialism. A similar rationale was introduced centuries later by those promoting communism.

The need to control cross-border trade and promote export was necessary to implement this command economy. The King’s Highway was a testament to such processes and was enlarged to stretch across the Sinai Peninsula, through Jordan, into Syria (Damascus and Palmyra), and onto the Euphrates. Its outer, eastern edges later developed into the Silk Road (see Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 The King’s Highway

The ancient Egyptians engaged in cross-territorial trade with their neighbors that offered them rare and exotic resources not found locally.

They went in search of gold and incense from Nubia and they imported oil jugs from Palestine. The Egyptians even outsourced the production of pottery from artisans in the land of Canaan. Quality timber not found in Egypt was brought from Byblos while the North African area of Punt offered gold, aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and a host of wild primates that amused and excited local audiences. Tin and copper for the domestic manufacturing of bronze were taken from Anatolia. The much prized blue stone lapis lazuli, which adorned the jewelry of wealthy ­Egyptians, was shipped from distant Afghanistan. From the Mediterranean, olive oil produced in Greece and Crete made its way to the ports of Egypt. The bartered exchange offered by Egyptian merchants consisted of grain from the rich Nile agricultural basin, uniquely crafted finished goods like linen, papyrus, carved glass, and stone objects along with products that passed through their middlemen trading activities, which originated in other neighboring regions. This ancient society was fully engaged in the import–export process, as their intercontinental trade spanned three ­continents: Africa, Asia Minor (Turkey), and Asia (China).

Being in a strategic geographical position the Egyptians were perhaps the initial go-between facilitating the exchanges of commodities from East to West and the first users of routes from Baghdad to Kashmir that ended up in China.

Thousands of years later, these routes would be used by the governing decedents of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire.

Not only did the Egyptians use the 4,000-mile Nile River as an ­irrigated agricultural basin but it was also their chief merchant water highway for their domestic economy and for developing foreign trade routes off their shores. Recent archeological findings dating back to 3,800 years support the contention that ocean trade was practiced in the Red Sea region by the Egyptians. Remnants at dig sites in the Wadi Gawasis have yielded ship timbers, deck beams, and hull planks—as well as limestone anchors, steering oars, and hacks of marine rope—all fittings for deep seagoing ships. Such relics may help to give factual credence, previously thought to be a mere legend like Eldorado in the American southwest or Atlantis off the entrance to the Mediterranean—Egypt’s trade with the mysterious Red Sea realm called Punt. The land of Punt was ­considered by the ­Egyptians as a place of exotic treasures, described as an ­“emporium of goods for both kings and gods.”10 Thousands of years later, a ­similar reference would be made by Marco Polo as he described the riches of the East in terms of opulent products the West had ever seen in his best-selling book based on his 17 years in the service of Kublai Khan, the ­grandson of Genghis Khan and the ruler of China.

The allure of Punt for the Egyptians indicates that it not only was a producer of rare resources—such as the incense known as antyu and myrrh resin, along with ivory, ebony, and gum resin—but also possessed a strategic position, which allowed trading ventures with the ­surrounding area for the skins of, as well as the living specimens of, giraffes, panthers, cheetahs, and baboons. Even dwarfs and pigmies were taken for the amusement of the pharaoh’s court. The exact location of Punt is still a mystery but is approximately placed on the African eastern coast and ­possibly south of Sudan or lower Ethiopia. Punt had its own trading empire that certainly reached into the heart of the continent. The trade process allowed Egypt to benefit without directly exploring these areas, enabled interior tribes trading routes, and connected such primitive societies to the outside world, which created a stepping stone of connected exchange across a good part of the continent. Through these separate but linked geographical locations, a commercial web was established that enabled ancient societies to extend themselves with the export of their resources and receive the beneficial resources of foreign exploration ­without ­actually visiting them or relying on war and colonization of other territories to achieve similar goals. This is an early example of the modern extreme global value chain using intermediary parties and nations.

The Egyptians also recognized the need to develop better methods to support the expanding commercial activity that went beyond the mere exchange between knowledgeable parties, a reasonably efficient method when mostly basic necessities were first traded. When activities surpassed ordinary daily life, commodity exchanges spurred the development of the middlemen or merchants for such transactions.

These commercial agents used ostraca (i.e., small pieces of pottery or other materials on which short inscriptions can be found) to record mundane rudimentary records of transactions among distinctly nonroyal people, the general population. These agents acted like public scribes (the forerunner of notaries) to authenticate and validate transactions that could, if need be, be lawfully adjudicated before royal dispensers of justice, itself a rudimentary court system for commercial complaints. Through a royal decree, standardization of measurements for common weight and dimension was introduced, for the bushel and other containers as ­previous vessels for the transfer of commodities weighed irregularly and scales were scarce. Precious metals in a fixed weight were struck, thereby creating a common intermediary of acceptable value (the forerunner of ­payment in specie). Even a code of commercial goodwill and honesty was proclaimed in the name of Egypt’s revered sun deity:

Do not move the scales, do not change (altar) the weights nor (and) do not diminish the fractions (parts) of the measure (bushel) … Do not make (create) a bushel of twice its size (that contains two), For then you are headed for the abyss (lest you will near the abyss). The bushel is the Eye of Re. It abhors (loathes) him who trims (defrauds).11

As early Egyptian society recognized the need to admonish those in commercial trade to do business with integrity, the merchants of the day also introduced the concept of credit while laying the basis for the ­modern legal doctrine of replevin (i.e., recovery of goods in another’s possession). If payment was delayed until the other party could produce or deliver the required value, then one party could recover back its own goods first delivered in the transaction. Such a concept is noted in the following translation:

The scribe Amennakht, your husband, took a coffin from me and said: I shall give you the ox as payment. But he has not given it to this day. I told Pa’akhet. He said: Let me have moreover a bed and I shall bring you the ox when it is full grown grow. I gave him the Bed. Niethre the coffin nor the bed (were paid for) to this day. If you (want to) give the ox, let somebody bring it. (But) if there is no ox, let somebody bring (back) the bed and coffin.12

Even in this period, loans were made between private individuals. For negligible amounts, an oral declaration was sufficient but for larger amounts rudimentary language was placed on evidentiary materials like pot shards or clay tablets, as exemplified by the following inscription of an ancient “I Owe You” (IOU) or an informal document ­acknowledging debt and not a negotiable instrument on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK:

Owed by Apahte, son of Patai; 30 pieces of silver.

Written in the year 28[?], on the 30th of Mesore.

Many of the commercial credit principles and even the instruments of debt itself in today’s world were developed in antiquity and represented part of the exchange imperative that mankind always has required.

In the centuries that followed the great Egyptian Empire, the ­caravan trade progressed across the region using the pathways first plied on the royal roads, as these routes came to be known as they carried the ­pharaoh’s exchange agents. Some of these roads like the King’s Highway ­(connecting the biblical Jordan kingdoms of Edom, Moab, and Ammon) were traversed by land caravans traveling from Egypt, Sinai, Jordan, Syria, and ending at Euphrates. However, the cross-continental trading imperative stretched further east through India and into China while also moving west into the Levant corridor (Mediterranean and Aegean Seas) while merging southern routes germinating in the Red Sea and ­Arabian ­territories. Many interconnecting routes provided for much wider ­territories to be incorporated in the trading chain.

Early African Trade

Most anthropological studies have determined that numerous ancient indigenous African tribal societies traded with each other. They ­bartered for each other’s localized resources and craft skills in the adjacent ­territories settled by them. While there is no doubt that these ancient tribal kingdoms made war on each other, as opposing rulers sought to gain the wealth of others, it was trade that brought them the greatest sustainable material reward. Their leaders quickly learned that the fortunes of war could easily turn with the previous winner vanquished in the next conflict. Commerce was a better alternative. This was especially true when the involvement of people living on the continent in long-distance merchant trade linking them to the wider global commercial chain began to take place.

The tribes that inhabited ancient West Africa south of the Sahara Desert embraced caravan trade with the Berbers of North Africa, who in turn moved merchandise into the Mediterranean basin. These early African tribal leaders tended to be conciliators rather than warriors. Gold from the region was exchanged for something even more prized: salt from the Sahara as extracted from both mining and evaporation. Salt was a ­multifunctional necessity in antiquity used as a flavoring agent, a food preservative, and for retaining body moisture (see Chapter 5’s subsection on salt for an in-depth presentation on this first global commodity).

The ancient sub-Saharan African city of Timbuktu was one of the greatest cross-continental trading centers for more than 400 years. It was located on the southern edge of the Sahara about eight miles (13 km) north from a bend in the Niger River in what is today the West African nation of Mali. The city area rose to prominence in the late 13th century; it began as a seasonal camp used by Tuareg nomads during their treks to north and south of the continent. North African merchants who plied their main trade across the West to East coastal commercial arena began their transactions with local miners who extracted salt in the desert, carrying this valuable commodity to the city, where intermediaries would transport it on the river to a world hungry for the resource. In exchange, gold was offered and the wealth of the city attracted rising commercial interests, causing it to develop as a strategically important location on the trans-Saharan caravan route. Merchants from Wadan, Tuwat, Ghudamis, and Agula mingled with those traveling from Morocco gathered to exchange gold and slaves as well as North African clothes and horses for the Saharan salt of Taghaza.

Timbuktu became well known as a religious and educational site due to the expansion of Islam, which itself was due to the power and prestige of the Muslim merchants who made the city their home, even though the Tuareg ruling their desert nomadic empire continued to control the city. At the end of the Mandingo Askia dynasty, which itself lasted from 1493 to 1591, the metropolitan area was the intellectual and spiritual capital in southwest Africa, rivaling other great cities of the era around the world. It housed the prestigious Koranic University with its scholars who had trained in the holy city of Mecca as well as Cairo, thereby attracting students from all over the continent. Besides funding a renowned ­educational institution, the wealthy merchant class saw the erecting of three great mosques. Even the Mali sultan, Mansa Musa, constructed a tower for the magnificent Great Mosque of Djenne, the Djingereyber, as well as a royal residence for himself and other municipal offices to assist in the administration of the city founded on trade.

The city as a prime trading center declined in strategic geographical value for goods transiting the East–West cross-continental African land highway when the Portuguese showed that it was easier, faster, and more profitable to place merchandise in the hulls of ships and to sail around the southern coast of Africa than travel the old desert caravan route that ­intersected Timbuktu. The city was further destroyed during the war between Morocco and Songhai. Today, the architectural remnants of its glorious days are long gone and it exists as a mud-built shady town with its connection to the modern world only accessible by camel and river boat.

Centuries later in the 1400s, Portuguese ships would begin to regularly arrive on the Ghana coast using the offshore Cape Verde Islands as a collection point for sub-Saharan goods. This opened an ocean channel for trade, especially in respect to human cargo destined initially for Europe and later the Western Hemisphere. Henry the Navigator, a Portuguese nobleman, recorded in his ship logs that on one of his first voyages in 1444 to presumably seek a sea route around the horn of Africa to the Far East he was able to exchange Moorish prisoners for African slaves. The western coast of Africa first visited by Henry would later be dubbed the slave coast.

On the eastern side of the continent, on the horn of Africa, the ancient city of Opone, situated on the Somali promontory (peninsula) jutting out into the Indian Ocean, was once a thriving port city. It served merchants from Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece, Persia, Yemen, Nabataea, and Azania as well as the Roman Empire. Its strategic positioning allowed it to serve as a rendezvous for cargo coming from the Far East as well as the south central interior of Africa. As such it was the prime entry point in the west for the spice trade (pepper, cinnamon, cloves, incense, etc.) coming from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the East Indies, and later silk from China. The city was a midway stopping point on the coastal route from the Mochan trading center of Azania to the Red Sea with caravans loaded with ivory and exotic animal skins.

Goods arriving in this ancient metropolis moved north to Yemen or Egypt and then into the Mediterranean, finding their way to southern European destinations. Although the most pronounced period of activity for Opone, today called Xaafun or Hafun, was from the first century BCE to the fifth century CE, archeological remnants indicated that the Mycenaean Kingdom of Greece traded in the region as far back as the 16th century BCE.

Early Arab Trading

Besides trade promoted by the Egyptian Empire, the Arab tribesmen of the Arabian peninsula were themselves carrying goods north to Syria in the summer and south to Yemen in the winter. Using goods from their homeports to sell at destinations along the way, they returned with goods to both sell at home and reexport via their eastern ports across the Indian Ocean. The Meccans of this region often combined their commercial ­ventures in an ancient form of group-investment financing practiced long before the advent of Islam. Perhaps taking a cue from the earlier Assyrian agreement (naruqqum), these Arab merchants combined their fortunes with one or more of their colleagues and undertook the project of long-distance trade together and later divided the profit or loss among the partners according to a prearranged pattern. The rules ­governing such ventures were part of a well-established custom known as musharaka. Sometimes, the investing partners would employ an outside group of agents who, under ­contract, carried the goods and/or other mediums of exchange (money) to other trading groups. Upon return from the ­commercial expedition, they would offer an accounting to their principles and claim their share of the proceeds for such salaried service. This arrangement, called a mudaraba, is essentially an agreement between a financier and an entrepreneur; this forms the basis for one of the ­modern-day Islamic banking practices with the added introduction of an intermediary between these two such principles—the bank.

Such a modified form of mudaraba is used in conventional commercial banking in the form of profit-and-loss sharing investment accounts and financing deals. The presumable earned profit, based on the ­uncertain and unpredictable return on invested capital, replaces the concept of interest, a predetermined fixed return, which under Islamic law could be interpreted as usury, a forbidden practice. The principles of the Assyrian-based naruqqum agreement and the preagreed pattern inherent in the Meccan Arab musharaka arrangement are the forerunners of the modern-day venture capital partnerships while helping to construct the outline for the introduction of the public corporation centuries later. Capitalism with respect to the basic financing parameters may have been rooted in these Middle Eastern developed ancient forms of collaborative enterprise that enabled cross-territorial trade to be undertaken.

Petra: Jewel of the Nomadic Desert

To get a further feel for trade in the ancient Middle East and its effect on the people of the region, a profile of a historic settlement is helpful. The uncovering of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan, built initially as a trading hub in the middle of the barren desert, is an excellent example of how trade can both construct and destroy even an advanced cosmopolitan center. Although the city is more than 2,000 years old, it was first discovered in 1812 by the Swiss traveler Jacob Burckhardt as it was hidden deep inside a mountain pass and guarded as a sacred holy place by desert tribes. Archaeologists at first wondered what allowed a nomadic Arabic tribe to achieve wealth, construct a major metropolis out of the harsh desert terrain, and exhibit a civilization whose language and technological virtuosity made it the most advanced society on earth at the time. The answer is its strategic geographical placement at the nexus of ancient trade routes, which connected the four corners of the ancient commercial compass. Over time, the merchants who plied their trade in the Petra region moved across routes also called the Frankincense Road or Incense Road and later the maritime trade route from South Arabia to India. Such land and sea commercial movements created the world-class capital of the Nabataean people, the city of Petra.

The legacy of this Nabataean society, the founders of Petra, includes their language as the basis for modern-day Arabic, while many of their other accomplishments have only recently come to light. Their ­construction projects in water conservation and transport (series of pipes, reservoirs, irrigation canals and dams) were the precursors of today’s ­systems. The construction of a well-planned city with administrative-­government-type structures along with residential and commercial areas, as well as farming and herding stations, was a prototype for the ­civilizations that followed. Libraries and places of learning flourished not only in the arts and ­literature but also in the sciences, which produced great strides in chemistry, whose formulas and compounds are still used today. The King’s Highway, which passed through Petra, was traversed by the followers of Isis, Dushara, Jehovah, Jesus, and Mohammed with the message of such prophets being extended on the backs of their merchant followers.

An examination of the ruins indicates that it was a city that brought the greatest global artisans, architects, and knowledge carriers of the day to its gates. It was a truly international city, as its artifacts revealed that they have come from the Arabs, Greeks, Romans, India, and China over its 200-year life span.

So what attracted such engineering marvels to be erected, new inventions to emerge, great paintings and sculptures to be created, wondrous texts and writings to develop, and religious affiliations to congregate?

The simple conclusion is great affluence. But how was such wealth accumulated? As noted, it was due to the unique placement of the city at the nexus of Middle Eastern trade. The trade routes passing through and surrounding Petra were composed of caravans averaging 2,500 to 3,000 camels (the domestication of which came around 1000 BCE) stretching out over five miles. A single camel loaded with frankincense and myrrh (precious oil taken from trees) would yield an average profit in modern currency of more than $4,000, a virtual fortune in those days. Today, just before the entrance into the hidden city of Petra, stands the ­reminiscent camel caravan laden with trade goods and its merchant ­overseer carved into the mountainside thousands of years ago, a testament to the ­importance of the relationship in the building of the city.

Petra controlled this lucrative roadway, linking the exotic resources of distant lands with the prime consumers in the northern hemisphere. ­Merchants plying these trade routes not only made their homes in the Petra outpost but paid this dominant local controlling tribe a toll ­(forerunner of modern-day tariff-customs duty) to cross their ­territory. These ­payments could equal one-quarter of the merchandise value ­carried in the caravans. Such sums contributed to the city’s wealth and power, which ­contributed to the construction of the metropolis and funded future trading endeavors. The money spent in the city by wealthy ­merchants created an ­economic boom that brought many immigrants to its gates.

While the imperial center of the Nabataean Empire was located in Petra the influence of this ancient tribe was widely felt across the northern Arabian region. The economic benefits that trade offered brought with it, to a large degree, social stability in an area fought with constant armed conflicts between the nomadic clans. Using their power to control the lucrative caravan routes, the Nabataeans entered into trade pacts with the various independent tribes giving each a share of the proceeds that cross-continental commerce produced. This financially viable wealth stream placated these often warring factions by unifying them toward a common purpose—keep the trade flowing.

The demise of Petra and the Nabataean Empire can be attributed to a number of circumstances. Technology in the form of more ­cost-efficient oceangoing vessels made overland transport from the East to the West obsolete. And, perhaps, as some archeologists surmise, a natural ­earthquake may have destroyed the city. But a certain historic event ­definitely contributed to the city’s downfall. When Rome annexed its empire, it altered the trade routes in the area and chose to center its operations on the ­Mediterranean islands, which were much easier to ­control and ­administer. Petra became one of the first casualties of regional ­globalization trading changes, but its contribution to the growth of civilization is still evident in its ruins today. Throughout, history shifts in global economic dominance plague nations. Industrialized countries not only feared the loss of jobs to emerging nations but realized that other elements of their ­economic, social, and cultural strength could also evaporate. History tells us that great empires and even aspiring city-states are venerable to the relocation of the global commercial imperative.

The Phoenicians: The First Long-Distance Water Traders

Perhaps the earliest example of national trade as the complete if not sole driver of a domestic economy were the Phoenicians. As ­Steven ­Solomon recounts in his book, Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and ­Civilization, throughout history, water was and still is “Earth’s most potent agent of change”13 and this natural resource has partnered with the exchange imperative throughout the history of mankind. The world’s ­earliest empires in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and imperial China in the seventh century were constructed as hydraulic states, that is, ­land-oriented states that also used river irrigation and channels, as administered by a ­centralized authoritarian government, to grow and develop their respective civilizations.

However, it was foreign trade across open seas that empowered the growth of ancient societies, expanding their reign and influence beyond their borders. The ancient civilization of the Phoenicians was born in the northern end of the land of Canaan. They are considered the first ­large-scale maritime traders as their whole society was economically geared to a seagoing activity, a true export–import system. Not only did their trading empire encompass the entire Mediterranean, but they also ventured outside the Strait of Gibraltar in the west, sailing up to Atlantic, Scandinavia, and down along the western coast of Africa. Guided by the stars, these exploring entrepreneurs have even been said to have reached the coast of Brazil.14

The Phoenicians created commercial colonial outposts in the lands they touched; but unlike European explorers who came centuries later, they did not claim such territories as part of their political domain and put the inhabitants under their control. Instead, their colonialist ­policy was to establish trade stations along with merchandise marts and ­warehouses. Their sole interest was to export the native products they encountered and offer imports from foreign lands, an idea also ­practiced by the ­Chinese Star Fleet discussed in Gavin Menzies’s book, as later presented. The breadth and reach of the Phoenician trading initiative allowed for the first intercontinental trading cartel stretching from Asia to the ­Middle East and into Europe. In 1200 BCE, this civilization held a virtual monopoly on the prized raw materials of the day, including tin, copper (to make bronze), and silver. They also exported cider from ­Lebanon to the pharaohs of Egypt, developed a highly valued textile dye referred to as ­Tyrian purple (named after their home port of Tyre), and discovered the technique of producing transparent glass. It is thought that the Hebrew word kena’ani, or Canaanite, came to be associated with the meaning of merchant, perhaps making the Phoenicians the world’s first global ­businesspeople, the real ancestors of our modern multinational ­enterprises (MNEs). The commercial prowess of these ancient people who dominated Mediterranean trade in the preclassical age gave the world the concept of interest-bearing loans, the idea of maritime insurance, and even an alphabet that today forms the basic communication system in the West. One of the chief trading partners of the Phoenicians was the Greeks, who used the Tyrian purple powder to color the garments of the elite and status-seeking members of their society. This specialized color designation is derived from the ancient Greek word phoinikela, meaning purple. Accompanying the cross-territorial merchant imperatives of the Phoenicians were some great physical structures that enabled societies that followed to reach new height. In the first century BCE, the port of Caesarea (Israel) was built by King Herod to honor the Roman emperor, Caesar. The construction of this docking facility, then the biggest in the world, was carried out on the ruins of a Phoenician port featuring the Stabo’s Tower, perhaps the world’s first functioning all-year and around-the-clock lighthouse. When finished, Caesarea was the daily home to more than 600 ships catering to global trade routes stretching from the Far East, through the Arabian peninsula, and on to Rome and Greece as well as other Mediterranean territories. Its sheer size and commercial importance dwarfed the areas other major port city of Alexandria built in 1900 BCE that serviced coastal commerce, including its own famous lighthouse, which is considered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Ferand Braudel remarked in The Prospective of the World that Phoenicia was an early example of a world economy (early globalization in the known world) surrounded by empires. Such a description might have been used to characterize events that later transpired such as the spice and silk trade out of the Far East; the exploits of European ­monarchs in the period of world exploration following Christopher Columbus; the United States after World War II as its international economic ­involvement ­materialized; Japan in 1960s with its aggressive export ­policy; China, today, as a new ­center for global manufacturing; and India as a worldwide ­service ­outsource center. Many of the site areas visited by the ­Phoenician still remain today (see Figure 3.2). Oea (Tripoli, Libya); Tingis ­(Tanger, Morocco); Olissipona (Lisbon, Portugal); Cadir (Cadiz, Spain); and ­Sardinia and Sicily (in Italy), along with major cities in ­Algeria, Cyprus, and Crete were born out of the Phoenician trading imperative. ­Perhaps, the most famous descendants of the early Phoenicians were the Carthaginians on the Lebanese coast. Their North African empire rivaled the Romans for trade and political influence in the Mediterranean basin for years, resulting in a 100-year war between the two. These ancient Phoenician trading seaports not only knitted together the Mediterranean basin economically but also allowed for the parallel exchange of cultures and the interchange of new ideas from as far away as Arabia and Persia on the western steps of Asia.

Figure 3.2 Phoenician trade empire

The Early Greeks and Their Descendants

The Minoans sailed the Mediterranean Sea cultivating trading ­opportunities on the North African coast while also exploring Persia to join the valuable intercontinental commerce moving from the East and West. Their Athenian fleet dispersed the Persian navy in what history considered as the first major sea battle in 480 BCE. Part of the reason for the war was trading rights. The use of a governmental military to further the economic expansion of nations even then was not a new idea and was played again throughout history. The Minoans, the ­descendants of which would form ancient Greek society, began the rudiments of the written language—that is, pictographic and syllabic. But unlike the ­literary ­storytelling recording of events portrayed in the written ­expressions of their contemporaries (the Egyptians and their hieroglyphics), the ­Minoans employed such symbols “only to make inventories that kept account of their extensive commercial endeavors.”15

Within their unique culture, the impetus for the written word was a commercial incentive, the recording of commercial transactions. It might be said that they were the first accountants. As noted earlier, the keeping of written records in any format is a prime ingredient for the ­development of civilization. The emergence of the written word based on a commercial necessity is a concept constantly replayed in other ancient civilizations (see Chapter 6). Years later, the descendants of the Minoans, the Greeks, would provide the world with the initial vestiges of today’s modern ­shopping centers with the construction of the agora. They also developed the precursor of public commercial advertising as ­exemplified by a ­still-existing marble carving on a stone roadway in ­Ephesus, ­Turkey, announcing the existence of a house devoted to the world’s oldest ­profession just up the street.

In antiquity, the Mycenaeans (the Greeks of the North) and the Hittites (forerunners of modern Turkey) controlled the rich trade route between the Far East and the West. Troy, a city-state, prospered as a ­natural strategic economic bridge between the two areas. The map ­(Figure 3.3) depicts the unique geographical position of Troy as it was situated on the Dardanelles (also known as Hellespont) between the land masses of Europe and Asia. It was also a port linkage between the waters of the Marmara Sea, which, via the Bospherous, led to the Black Sea in the north and the Aegean Sea in the south. Such positioning made it a ­central hub for intercontinental trade passages. Centuries later, Troy sat at the nexus where Xerxes the Persian king and then Alexander the Great would lead their armies in opposite directions. This ancient trade center was the regional predecessor of the great city of Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey), the imperial capital of the Roman Empire in 671 BCE and later the Ottoman Kingdom.

Figure 3.3 City of Troy: Straddling East–West trade movement

Note : TROY, city-state on the nexus of ancient world East–West trade

 

While the romantic epic, as portrayed by Homer in the Iliad, speaks of the face that launched a thousand ships, the real historical impetus for this famous battle most probably was not Helen of Troy but the desire of the Greeks to consolidate their trading empire by securing this ­valuable passageway for themselves. Perhaps the mythical abduction of Helen ­followed by the siege of the city of Troy in Homer’s work of fiction was based on Mycenaean’s conflict (around 1193 to 83 BCE) with the ­Trojans, but in reality it is based on the desire of one group to acquire the riches of another. In this case, the war, like most wars, was ­collaterally not only about the acquiring of land resources and the enslavement of a society, but the prime objective was to gain control over the ­strategic geographical trade positioning of Troy as a conduit of trade between ­intercontinental regions. About 800 years later, historians have well ­documented the ­Peloponnesian War and cited that the war was based on the need of Athens and their Aegean allies to ensure the flow of ­foreign grain from ­Theodosia on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea through the Bospherous and into the Aegean Sea. This route passes by Troy and would support the contention that East–West trade was vital to the ­interests of all parties in the region.

Although not known for their colonial explorations, as were their European descendants in the late 1400s, ancient Greek settlements can be found in and around the Mediterranean. The island city of Rhodes in 292 BCE, like Troy, derived its wealth and prominence due to its ­attractive trade position as a hub in the eastern Mediterranean. Accessible by sea lanes to Asia Minor, the Middle East, and southern Europe, it acted as an interim shipping port and as a connection point for all these regions. Rhodes’s rulers charged a 2 percent duty on the cargo of ships for port services, with grain transportation being the most lucrative freight. The Colossus of Rhodes, the massive bronze statue constructed across the harbor entrance, was a testament to the importance of ancient sea trade and a symbol that it was blessed by the gods. It was also a tribute to the local navy, which was praised for safeguarding merchant vessels from marauding pirates and thereby contributed to the protection of valued commercial operations that provided Rhodes with its economic strength. Only the famed dock structure of Alexandria, Egypt, and its enormous Pharos lighthouse built in 280 BCE rivaled the complexity and efficiency of the Rhodes facility. It is noteworthy that both the Colossus and Pharos structures are considered in the collection of the Seven (architectural) Wonders of the Ancient World, symbols of advanced civilizations that were also inspired by intercontinental trade and globalization.

The modern Spanish city of Ampurias was originally the Greek settlement of Emporion, which literally means the trading station (note the resemblance to the word emporium—that is, an important place of ­commerce, a center of trade, or a large store selling a variety of ­merchandise). Even though the Greeks did not establish a governmental colonial presence in Egypt, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded the trading settlement of Naukratis in the western Nile Delta where large quantities of imported Greek pottery have been found. Greek trading establishments have also been found in the city of Miletus, which today is modern Turkey.

The Greeks, being the first commercial global ambassadors, were also knowledgeable diplomats as they recognized that their national ­identities as traders sometimes worked against them. As such they employed ­foreign-born, free, noncitizen agent transients known as xeno (Greek root word meaning stranger or foreigner) to carry out long-distance trade. These straw men or intermediaries played an important role in their ancient economy while the principle of the foreign commercial agent relationship is still used today in world trade. Modern MNCs employ third-world nationals (those who are not citizens of the country where the company has its headquarters or host countries they are entering) in their ­organizations to bridge cultural and political differences in their ­commercial associations around the world. The Greeks also recognized the importance of cross-border or territorial trade in respect to construction of laws to ensure the safety of noncitizen traders in their harbors and ­markets. No matter the nationality of the merchant (the land from which he originated or was now from) he was given special noncitizen legal ­status (today’s resident alien designation) and was safe of forfeiture of his persons and assets on grounds that he was a foreigner. The recognition of the beneficial value of alien residents, foreign nationals doing ­business in a country, and the specialized treatment afforded them was again repeated in the English Magna Carta signed many years later (see Chapter 9 and the reference to the Magna Carta). Many nationalities over the history of international trade were barred from ownership of land and other fixed assets in the domains they immigrated or traveled between but their knowledge of commercial affairs was nonetheless considered ­essential to the economy of their adopted countries. With such restrictions, many became merchants, agents of merchants, or money traders. The Jews of Europe as well as the Chinese and Indians outside their respective home countries found their services useful in foreign lands. In return for such a declared special trading standing, the Greek state charged duties on imports and exports on the exchange of goods moving across their ­borders, which in turn sanctified the process and contributed to improving the lives of all Greek citizens. The principle of an in and out tariff taxation is used in today’s modern commercial transactions between nations with the revenue generated a prime resource for governments to finance their social agendas.

While early Greeks were well known for their extensive foreign ­trading activities, it was Alexander the Great who expanded the empire and created vast commercial linkages across distant regions. The extent of such venturing, more than 3,000 miles, is best illustrated in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4 Empire of Alexander the Great

Perhaps the best example of this desire to make Greece the ­center of the global economy was the establishment of the ancient city of ­Alexandria founded in 332 BCE. From its inception, the city was intended to serve not only as a link between Egypt and Greece but also as a unifier of civilizations within the waters of the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for commerce via the Nile River and overland routes across the Arabian peninsula that had already penetrated India and the Far East. Alexandria was designed to be a major international trade ­center in regard to not only the construction of the massive port but also the administration of activities surrounding the commercial imperative. According to a papyrus dated 258 BCE, a royal ordinance called a ­prostagma (a command document signed by the king stating an ­administrative ­declaration to be followed by all in the kingdom) was ­published that required all merchants entering the country to exchange their gold and silver for new Ptolemaic silver coins that were minted in the country. Other ­proclamations, beyond the control on foreign ­currency, specified regulations for commercial exchanges and acted to codify and establish a universal economic system for those within the empire. The influence and extent of international trading activities originating in Alexandria are best illustrated by another interesting papyrus found in the city during Roman rule in the second century. It detailed the private establishment of a ­commercial company for the importation of aromata (the Greek word for spices or herbs) from foreign incense-bearing lands. The legal ­document, technically a maritime loan contract, is noteworthy as the roles of the 12 ­parties to the agreement contain a blueprint for commercial arrangements structured across borders that one might find in use today. It consisted of a creditor, a banker, five debtors, and five guarantors while also setting out the varied national affiliations to which each belonged. The banker, through which the arrangement was managed, was Roman while the other parties came from Carthage, Messalia (Massalia), Elea, ­Thessalonica, and Macedonia (Greece) along with Nabataean merchants. The internationality of the consortium not only is a testament to the city’s global reach and ­importance but also illustrates the gathering of players in early globalization activities. The Greeks’ culture was born out of trade. Not only did they exchange products, but they also imparted their language, which became the international commercial communication standard as well as the ­conduit for knowledge transition (see Chapter 6).

Rome and Its Empire

While many internal and external factors contributed to the Roman Empire’s rise and fall, one of the prime elements in the process was its ­ability to organize and sustain commerce throughout its colonial ­territories and its trading activities with foreign regions of the world (see Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5 Roman Empire at its zenith

It should also be noted that the 100-year war with rival ­Carthage (originally founded by the Phoenicians) was fought to maintain North African trade control over grain, ivory, textiles, precious metals, and glass—all prized elements in ancient times and a source of great wealth for Rome itself. During the first century CE, a primitive ­European Union–type structure was initiated across the empire. A common ­currency, the silver denarius, was used across their federal provinces, while free trade, supported with local taxes eventually flowing to Rome, was initiated between them. Uniform civil and commercial rules were ­practiced across the empire while the state improved the overall infrastructure of roads and port along with administrative magistrates to enforce legal ­regulations. The military of the republic was used to ensure safe travel on the ­roadways, while its navy patrolled the sea-lanes looking to ward off pirates who attacked merchant vessels. Formal trade pacts were introduced with outlining recognized independent societies that stretched all the way to the Han dynasty in China.

Private companies called publicani were created and allowed to bid for state contracts to supply the army and construct public buildings. The Romans are even credited with the origination of the word company. Pronounced in Latin, the term links two words con + pane or with bread, a reference to a group of people who broke bread daily or ate together. During such ritual socialization, they held discussions on politics as well as the managing of their estate affairs harking back to the Greek idea of oikonomia, or economics. The actual etymology of the word company indicates that the term first appeared around 1150 CE in its written version companio, or companion, an applied extension of those with whom one shared meals.

It was later used to officially describe a body of soldiers broken up into a specific complement of men. While the use of the company concept as a collaborative group effort to further a common goal is attributable to the organization in military strategy and not withstanding that the root word denotes a gathering for a social collective purpose, the term had no direct business association until 1303 BCE when the word emerged to portray a group of craftsmen belonging to trade guilds. In more ­modern terminology, such commercial associations might be described as ­networking—that is, social gatherings with a purposeful or beneficial agenda for the connectors, the organization toward a common agenda. The idea of a company still carried the stigma of personal liability toward the ­individuals involved in the undertaking or venture as even Roman law recognized such legal responsibility. The Romans recognized this problem and came up with an economic method to depersonalize business—the notion of limited liability to separate an enterprise from its owners and managers. They created a de facto entity that possessed all the distinct ­features of a modern corporation including continuity, direct agency, ­limited liability, and entity shielding.

Romans used an existing nonperson, that is, a slave, as the fulcrum around which assets could be held and operations conducted as the owner of a slave was not responsible for his transactions. Since slaves, like ­modern corporations, could not be held individually liable, they were not ­citizens; any liabilities arising from their actions could only be satisfied out of the assets they held.16 Hundreds of years later, this ­Roman-invented ­analogous device for limited liability using an indirect nonperson entity was codified under the privilege extended as a state-created entity, the birth of the corporation as granted by governmental charter.

This early Roman-inspired idea that a nonnatural person, a slave, can be recognized by law to have rights and responsibilities may have been the forerunner of the legal fiction used centuries later to give ­corporations equal protection under the law. In 1886, in the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (118 U.S. 394), the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a private corporation is a person and entitled to the legal rights and protections the constitutions afford to any ­person. The doctrine of corporate personhood, which subsequently became a ­cornerstone of corporate law, was decided without argument. According to the official case record, Supreme Court Justice Morrison Remick Waite emphatically announced prior to hearing oral arguments that

the court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision (specifically Section 1) in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does.17

The ancient Romans, like their prior Greek philosophical writers, also commented on business associations, inserting them into a ­practical guide on establishing commercial relations, an ethical overtone. Such ideas are also found in early Egyptian writings and echoed later in ­religious ­teachings with respect to just and equitable treatments in business ­dealings. The following story by Pliny the Younger, an adviser to Emperor Trajan (98 to 117 CE) on matters of leadership and managerial or organizational structure, as well as his appointed governor of a region, recounts the need for insertion of a trusted mutual intermediary between buyer and seller. The lesson is to assure both parties that the transaction is fair and reasonable, a good principle for managers to emulate and one that also enhances future relationships:

Tranquillas, my close associate, wishes to purchase a small property that your own friend is said to be trying to sell. I ask you to intervene so that he buys for a price that is fair, for thus he will look back on the deal with pleasure. Truly a purchase on bad terms is always disagreeable, especially for the reason that it seem to reproach the stupidity of the new owner.18

Danube Valley, the Lost World of Old Europe

Before the emergence of the most-often-written-about Western societies of Greece, Rome, and even in advance of the growth of the ­Mesopotamia region and its Middle Eastern cousins, the Egyptians of the Nile River basin, there developed in the twin geographical areas of the lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foots an Old European civilization. Relics of the period date this society as emerging earlier than 5000 BCE and ­lasting for more than 1,500 years. Although no distinctive name has yet been given to inhabitants, these early people lived in what are today Bulgaria, Moldova, and Romania. Researchers are not sure if this group can be classified as a civilization, but the artifacts found in the region ­indicate that the society did possess political, technological, and ideological advancements that would qualify it in such a recognized anthropological domain. One aspect of the society was its participation in long-distance trade, a factor in postulating that this group ­originated from perhaps Greece and Macedonia, and kept such exchange ties after arriving in the new land. In a catalog to accompany an exhibition of artifacts from the area titled “The Lost World of Old Europe: The ­Danube Valley, 5000–3500 BC,” shown at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University in December 2009, French anthropologist Michel Louis Seferiades concludes that the finding evidence of Spondylus shells from the Aegean Sea in the archeological dig is of special distinction.19 This prized Aegean shell was imported as a special item of trade ­representing a valuable symbol of social status, recognition, and suggesting that the culture had links to a network of access routes and a social framework of elaborate exchange systems—including ­bartering, gift exchange, and reciprocity. Contributing to this cross-territorial trading consideration were the exchange networks, which also contained long-distance acquisitions of gold, copper, and shared patterns of ­ceramics from outlining colonies. Movements to the region of nonindigenous agricultural products and domesticated animals also suggest a pattern of cross-territorial trade that helped to sustain this quasi-civilization.

Carthaginians and Celts: Other Ancient Western Traders

As mentioned earlier, Romans and Carthaginians were at one time ­competitors for the dominance of the Mediterranean trade, with the monopoly of the region having to be settled by war. Unlike imperial Rome, which used its army to expand its commercial empire, the whole state of Carthage was geared toward establishing trade routes. Their ­commercial expeditions not only stretched across the entire Mediterranean Sea but also included the interior African landscape and the Atlantic seaboard of the continent. Some archeologists even contend that they reached the Caribbean, the shores of both eastern Mexico and South America, as well as Southeast Asia. Like their North African predecessors, the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians were known for their massive trading vessels, which were estimated to have carried more than 100 tons of goods—an enormous load requiring very unique shipbuilding inventions as well as port entry navigational skills. One of the commercial principles attributed to the Carthaginian trading prowess was their introduction of the auction process, an early open free-market-driven, bidding approach to business transactions. Built on the concept of self-regulating supply and demand, numerous buyers would compete to set the price of ­commodities. The same idea is also found in the writings of ancient Indian and Chinese social commentators (noted in Chapter 2); and much later, in 1776, with the concept of “invisible hand of the market,” popularized by Adam Smith in his economic treatise, The Wealth of Nations.20

Another early trading group in the greater European sphere of influence were the Celts in the north. While they were primarily land traders, their prowess in the prized metalworking craft created interest in goods produced by such skills from adjacent territories. Unlike other trading societies of that day that relied mainly on exchanging natural resources not found in other lands, this was an early recognition in the ancient world of an intellectual proficiency creating a competitive commercial advantage via refined technological division of labor. This economic trade principle was repeated on a limited basis in other areas of the antique world, most notably in the Chinese specialty for silk-based woven ­fabric and porcelain pottery. Today, this conceptual orientation is referred to as global centers of excellence and is itself a prime driver of the ­globalization imperative. Because the Celts consisted of numerous nonunified tribal clans who mainly traded between themselves, there was no allegiance to a national ruling entity to establish a major trading center in their territory nor provide financial assistance from a liege lord to underwrite trading expeditions; no less a ruling body to establish rules governing the trading process itself. The Celts had to either travel great distances themselves on individual excursions or wait for the occasional merchant to come to their shores to deal with sparsely dispersed pockets of ­craftsmen. Both ­conditions severely limited their cross-territorial trading initiative. Sociologists have theorized that for a nation to prosper via the foreign trading imperative, a key requirement is the existence of some form of ­commercial unification system through a ruling entity that can impose universally enforced factors to stabilize and sustain the process of commercial ­dealings in a society. History seems to prove that when such national elements are in place, trade has a better chance of prospering both onshore and offshore. Instances of this principle in action are reflected in the social and political unification of the Mongol region under Genghis Khan, the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and other expanded territorial dynasties.

The Eastern World: India, China, and Japan

Indus Valley of India

Around 2250 BCE in the Indus region (India), a civilization emerged that some call the Harappan as its people were inhabitants of a city ­bearing such a name on a tributary. They were highly organized; and in their collective society, efforts resembled those in Egypt and ­Mesopotamia. Large granaries were erected, which allowed for the storage of surplus that could be exchanged for other imported commodities. A standardized ­system of weights and measurements was inaugurated, creating a ­uniformly acceptable necessary element that furthered and simplified the trading process. The importance of external exchange with ­neighboring territories was exemplified with the construction of a vast dockyard ­complex linked by a mile-long canal to the sea. This key infrastructure, along with ­warehouses, was constructed by the local administration. It provided an extended area to the suppliers to sell their products to merchants, who in turn placed them on ships going to the Persian Gulf to reach as far west as Mesopotamia while moving east by hugging the coastline to Southeast Asia and the legendary spice islands. The port structure dominated the landscape and was larger in scope and size than any temple or public ­edifice, attesting to the importance of the commercial trading imperative to this ancient civilization. The positive trade surplus achieved by their trade merchants gave rise to prosperous urban centers that were in turn linked to an extensive network of internal trade.

Literary records from that period paint a picture of abundance and splendor due to the maritime wealth of the cosmopolitan cities of South India. The Silappathikaarum (The Ankle Bracelet), a Tamil romance story roughly dated to the late second century CE with no specific author, provides a glimpse of the maritime wealth of the cosmopolitan cities of South India. The tale suggests that the markets offered a great variety of precious commodities prized in the ancient world. The prosperous port city of Puhar (Kaveripattanam) was said to be inhabited by ship owners described as having riches that were the envy of foreign kings. Puhar is portrayed as a city populated by entrepreneurial merchants and traders, where trade was well regulated. The city possessed a spacious forum for storing a bale of merchandise, with the inventories scrupulously marked indicating the quantity, weight, and name of the owner. It was so well organized for commercial activities that business streets were ­specifically earmarked for merchants who traded in items such as coral, ­sandalwood, jewelry, faultless pearls, pure gold, and precious gems. Skilled ­craftspeople brought their finished goods such as fine silks, woven fabrics, and ­luxurious ivory carvings.

All these products were destined for overseas markets to the East and to the West via the sea ports of southern India. Eastern commercial ­ventures conducted from the site may be the basis for Chinese influence on Indian society. Rice, a fundamental part of the Indian diet today and first grown in the Ganges Valley, was not a native-known agricultural asset of the area and conceivably it was imported from lands the ­merchant traders visited, most probably southeastern Asia and China. Excavated evidence indicates that specialized craftsmen utilized raw materials from across the subcontinent as well as other adjoining areas through an ancient trading network both to import resources and to export finished products. While much has been written of India’s later participation in the spice trade that flowed west across Arabia, into the Mediterranean, and on to southern Europe, it should be noted that in the first century CE, regular maritime traffic connected India to the Malay Peninsula and other points in ­southeast Asia.

Although the courtly culture of the Mogul rulers of the Indian subcontinent is the most well known, a cosmopolitan outlook was not new to India. Several sources point to a thriving system of international trade that linked the ports of southern India with those of ancient Rome. The chronicles of the Greek historian Periplus reveal that Indian exports included a variety of spices, aromatics, quality textiles (muslins and cottons), ivory, and high-quality irons and gems, which were considered ­luxurious and in-demand items during those days.

While a good portion of Indo-Roman trade was reciprocal (Rome supplying exotic items such as cut gems, coral, wine, perfumes, papyrus, copper, tin, and lead ingots), the trade balance was considerably weighted in India’s favor. The balance of payments had to be met in precious metals, either gold or silver coins, or other valuables like red coral (i.e., the hard currency of the ancient world). India was particularly renowned for its crafted ivory and fine muslins (referenced in Roman literature as “woven air”). According to Roman historical accounts, yearly purchases of Indian merchandise was in excess of 50 million sesterces.21

China: The Reluctant Trading Enigma

Genghis Khan in 1100 BCE not only united the Mongols but created an empire beyond the Chinese border, encompassing Korea and Japan in the east and stretching to Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and Syria) and into Russia, Poland, and Hungary. He instituted common laws and ­regulations over his domain, most notably the preservation of ­private property to enhance and protect the trading imperative. His decree, the Pax ­Mongolica, allowed for safe passage of merchants across his ­territory. This royal command was used by Niccolo and Maffeo Polo (Marco Polo’s father and uncle, respectively), who met Kublai Khan, the ­successor to ­Genghis Khan, on their travels to distant lands in search of their ­commercial trading activities. These early khans recognized that for ­civilization to grow and prosper, unabated trade across their controlled territories was required. It was also a key consideration to ensure contentment of conquered people that they be allowed to continue their ­commercial interests with protection afforded by the new liege lord.

If the revelations as proposed by Menzies in his book 1421: The Year China Discovered America 22 are to be universally accepted, thereby ­challenging Columbus’s proclamation of original exploration, the portrayal of China as a masterful organizer of world commerce emerges. Their practice of harmonized trade indicates that globalization was a ­benefit, not a hindrance, to societal development. On March 8, 1421, during the Ming dynasty, a fleet of more than 3,750 vessels set sail to raise foreign tribute for the kingdom and to begin to unite the world in Confucian harmony, a religious connection to trade. The Chinese sought to entice financial homage in return for granting trading privileges with the homeland while also offering protection against enemies for those territories covered by their pacts. China, however, always gave its trading partners a greater value of goods—offering to trade silks and porcelain at discounted prices, often funded by soft loans—than was received from them. They allowed the societies they encountered to be woven into the global tapestry of trade and capitalized on the resources and skills of their native environments. The Chinese venture provided an opening to the rest of the world that such individual cultures could not achieve on their own.

A prime aspect of the Chinese initiative was that they did not go forth to create colonies nor construct the modern-day vestiges of subsidiary dominance and control but instead chose to organize the first global value chain through creation of strategic alliances. They, unlike the ­mercantilism principles practiced by Europe during the period of great exploration, did not rely on their strength and quasi-monopolistic trade methods but they recognized the principle of economic equity and the art of the fair commercial deal instead. It may be unfair and equally ­inaccurate to portray the Western colossus of business as the perpetrators and beneficiaries of globalization today when the idea was practiced close to 600 years ago by an Eastern dynasty.

The Star Fleet was commanded by Admiral Zheng. He had been taken prisoner in his childhood by the invading Chinese army. As a male captive he was castrated at the age of 13 as prelude to being placed in service to the royal house of Zhu Di. As a personal servant to the young prince a life friendship developed between them. When the royal was ­elevated to emperor his trusted youthful companion was made an ­admiral. Zheng, over a period of 30 years, lead numerous expeditions. The Star Fleet was his last as when remnants of the armada finally returned home, the emperor had been replaced. Advisers to the new imperial house felt that foreign contamination from such ventures would destroy China. As such, proclamations were issued to destroy all records of the voyage and a ­prohibition was issued for all future endeavors. Ocean trade was severely limited to prescribed coastal waters. Historians point to this event as the beginning of the Chinese reluctance to embrace the world, a position not reversed until modern times.

A number, but not all, of the propositions advanced by Menzies have been strongly challenged by other historical researchers. The idea that China dominated sea trade and therefore created subservient territories in the East and Southeast Asia acting as their protector and thereby making them economically dependent colonies, as opposed to favored trading partners, runs counter to charts made of the area. A series of maps ranging from the Song dynasty in 1136 through the Ming dynasty in 1624 would seemingly dismiss this contention. Firstly, non-imperial calligraphers who prepared these renderings do not show any of the Chinese kingdoms as the center of this world region but simply part of the Eastern area. ­Second, the charts depict shipping trade routes traversing Japan, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Borneo, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia (Java and Sumatra), Myanmar, Goa in India, and beyond to the West with compass bearings from all points. This would indicate that the South China Sea and the waters it touched were free and open international trade waterways used by all coastal and trading nations during this period. The region was not ruled nor was it under the economic ­controlling ­influence of China. The individual kingdoms comprising it were ­neither ­commercially dependent on nor beholden to China acting as their trade master. These points do not however negate the great navigational exploits of the Star Fleet that perhaps took it around the world.

In his other book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance,23 Menzies further raises the possibility of the extraordinary global influence of the Chinese as he postulates that their merchant fleet brought to Europe the seeds of intellectual ­expansion, new discoveries, and inventions that would change the Western world. They arrived, most appropriately in the Western hubs of world trade—Florence and Venice—to widen and expand global trade. Supposedly, during meetings with Pope Eugene IV, they shared their knowledge of world geography (perhaps the maps later used by Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan), astronomy, and mathematics for navigation, printing, architecture, steel manufacturing, military weaponry, and a host of other valuable insights and tools that enabled mankind to leap forward. While Menzies’s contentions have been challenged, his hypothesis that Chinese-inspired knowledge and inventions did make their way to the West has merit. Such advanced information may have been carried by a series of intermediaries, merchants, and seamen who constantly moved between the two regions as opposed to his proposition that direct contact was made.

It is also interesting to note that in conjunction with the later ocean imperative in the Ming dynasty, the first Chinese emperor Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, in 238 BCE, over five centuries earlier (about the time of the building of the Roman Empire in the West) had also dispatched ­expeditions to China’s eastern neighbors across central Asia; this was the real beginning of the East–West trade. The Qin dynasty is best ­remembered in the history of China as the period when the seven ancient kingdoms were unified and the empire was therefore created. It is also well known for the initial construction of the Great Wall across the north and ­western frontier and the 1974 discovery of the great emperor’s underground ­pyramid-like tomb in Xian containing a massive army of ­Terracotta ­soldiers to protect and enforce his rule in the parallel or underworld. What is often overlooked is that in his plan to unify the kingdom, the emperor brought stability to his vast empire and three major projects were undertaken: (a) a common written system of ­communication was ­introduced so that commercial communication between the ­previous warring states could be undertaken; (b) units of measurement for weight and length were standardized across the land; and (c) a common ­currency, an acceptable medium of value exchange, was established. All these undertakings allowed for increased efficient trade across the land, the mainstay in holding the diverse population together and for its civilization to grow. As long as trade flowed, the empire could be maintained. The commercial venturing into Western lands was further enhanced by the Han emperor Wu-Ti (141 to 87 BCE) due to the extensive travels of explorer Chang Ch’ien, circa 132 BCE. It was during this period that the renowned ­Chinese export of woven material, silk ­garments, was first exchanged for glass and metal products from the West.

With the exception of the Mongolian period and its unification of the trading initiative across its vast empire in the 11th century BCE and the exploration of the world by great fleets in the 1400s, the ­Chinese never again approached the commercialization of the world. Given ­China’s extensive shoreline and the major international trading port of Macao based in its own territory in the 1600s and established by the Portuguese, the impetus for reaching out never rematerialized. Why this ­technologically advanced ancient society—which gave the world paper for recording transactions, the printing press, gun powder to protect voyagers from their traders, the compass for ocean navigation, and the most worthy of seagoing vessels and trade goods like silk and porcelain desired by the world—failed to take due advantage of its comparative global resources is worthy of inspection. The answer may lie in a series of further introspections.

The Great Wall is the preeminent physical metaphor for the Chinese psyche, while the country’s commercial relationships with the rest of the world provides the best representative example of the mindset at work. Societies construct walls to provide security for those behind them. But in return they do not allow those inside to venture out, be influenced by foreign contamination, and return to corrupt and disrupt the ­domestic harmony. China did not remain isolated as it created gates that were periodically opened and closed as various emperors ascended the throne. After the period of the great fleet that sailed from its base in China in 1421 on a commercial exploration around the world (perhaps visiting Italy in 1434),24 the country strictly limited it merchants to foreign exposure via maritime trade for the next 133 years. During the voyages of the Star Fleet, as mentioned in Menzies’s 1421, the old emperor died and with him the vision he had for China engaging the world as well as leaving the empire in political and economic chaos. The new emperor was surrounded by advisers who warned him of the dangers of foreign ­influence and therefore potential contamination of Chinese society, which would threaten his rule during an unstable time. Upon the return of the remnants of the fleet in late 1423, he announced that such future ventures were frivolous. The great ships that made the journey were left to rot at their moorings and its was decreed that no vessels of their size and magnitude could ever be built again, only boats for coastal navigation—in between, short domestic harbor voyages would be allowed. All records of the fleets’ new explorations were destroyed.

The precious maps, the trade alliance documents, and descriptions of the lands and the people they encountered were impounded by the state, not to be shared nor seen by others. All proof of their ­extraordinary feats was eliminated from public record. Given such considerations, ­Menzies’ second book seems to contradict the factual events he recounts in the first. However, some historians believe that the maps and ­navigation ­techniques acquired by the Chinese in 1421 in their quest to circle the world were not entirely lost and that they were smuggled out of the ­country, falling into the hands of perhaps Indian or Arab merchants and later into those of European explorers’ in the 16th century.

In 1567, the general prohibition was lifted due to the pressure of foreign demand for unique Chinese goods like porcelain and silk. But in 1628, the Chinese government again imposed earlier bans on long-­distance maritime trade fearing the continued cultural, political, and ­religious influence of the Europeans.

Chinese law did not allow its own emperor-appointed state officials to travel outside of its borders nor could a diplomatic, no less a trade delegation, be dispatched without imperial decree. Even the lucrative and mutually profitable exchange (i.e., silk for silver) with its neighbor across the sea, Japan, was not on a direct basis. In the 1600s, both ­markets used middlemen, the Portuguese, to construct cross-border trade via the colony of Macao on the Chinese mainland and the Japanese port of Nagasaki. The size of China made the governess of its internal affairs the primary consideration of its rulers.

Sustaining the unification of the kingdom was a constant battle for emperors and their advisers at court. Interlopers both within and poised on the extensive land borders of the country were a continuing source of concern with massive resources via a large standing army devoted to protection of the central government.

The authorities viewed all foreigners as potential troublemakers and their influence as harmful to the harmony of the nation. Their anxiety produced rigid laws in regard to any exchanges with them. They branded such people with the generic derogatory term “ghost” (gut) to demonize their character and place them in a subhuman category. Chinese distrusted white men of European extraction, ranging from the Portuguese, called Macanese foreigners (Aoyi, due to their base of operations in Macao), to the feared “red hairs” (hongmao), or the Dutch. The Japanese, known as “Dwarf Pirates” (wokou), were most feared due to their prowess in combat as experienced during their frequent raids on Chinese coastal cities after a ban on maritime trade with them. The most obnoxious foreigners, however, were the black ghosts (hiegui), because the skin color of the African slaves and their North African Moorish neighbors was an abomination to the Chinese, as they were totally unlike anything they had ever known. Beyond discrimination of these foreign ghosts denoted by their physical ethnic traits, the Chinese were also scared of Jesuit priests, accusing them of infiltrating their society and using their Christian conversion activities as a destructive force bordering on cultural and political treason. Simply put, China wished to wall off its society from barbarians and such policy was the motivation for suspending its offshore trading activities.

Beyond these two prime considerations, Chinese cultural indoctrination made them very conservative people whose lives were controlled by tradition and historic custom. A portrayal of Chinese 17th-century ­geographers, as depicted in Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World,25 well demonstrates a desired limited vision of the world. In regard to recording new information in the form of world maps, as acquired through the visits of foreign traders, the preface to a book of that period offering new data indicated that it was designed to provide material for historians of another day and not for current mariners and merchants. The impetus to trade across territories was just not part of the Chinese ancient mindset. During the zenith of the age of discovery when European nations hammered to get into China, the Canton System (1760 to 1842) served as a means to control trade with the West within its own country as it limited the ports in which European traders could do business in China. The administration of the Canton system forbid any direct trading between European merchants and Chinese civilians. Instead, it required employees of the foreign trading ­companies to only trade with an association of Chinese merchants known as the Cohong. The reluctance of the Chinese government to entertain foreign trade transactions also meant that the movement of foreigners was restricted to ­specified venues in the approved harbors of the Cantons during the designated trading season.

It did, however, allow foreign traders to remain on Chinese soil on the island of Macao during the off-season, a mitigation of mainland ­restrictions. This policy eventually led to a concession allowing Macao to be administered by the Portuguese while maintaining the Chinese ­lawful integrity of the island for the Chinese citizens living there. Chinese trade policy continued to frustrate the Europeans, as did their merchants’ acceptance of only silver bullion in transactions. However, the resentment was partially appeased when opium (grown in the English colonies of India) became an alternate medium of exchange. A balance or stalemate in the trading process remained intact until the opium wars, which established treaty ports in accordance with the Treaty of Nanjing, which were ruled not by Chinese law but rather the regulations of the specific country that controlled each port. The history of the country, as influenced by the imperialistic foreign trade requirements of the Europeans, has never been forgotten by its people. Even in the modern era, notwithstanding the years of communist influence on the economy, the Chinese tradition of not trusting foreigners seems to permeate their internal and offshore trade policies. Although China reached out to touch the far-away world during only two periods in its ancient history, it did develop trade with ­contiguous territories based on the simple principle of reciprocal needs. While the Silk Road, Spice Route, and King’s ­Highway are all ­synonymous with famous cross-territorial trade passages in the ancient world, a little known pathway through some of the highest ­plateaus on earth, and perhaps the most difficult to transverse, best illustrates the ­fundamental impetus for the cross territorial exchange or barter ­process, the founding father of the modern commercial system; to fulfill an ­essential need that is not ­available locally. Although more of a path than an actual road, the Tea-Horse Road begins in the southwest China where its two provinces, Szechuan and Yunnan, join. It crosses the eastern foothills and deep canyons formed by several major river basins, then heads into Tibet and the Himalayas, finally reaching India. The journey is a dangerous one, ­requiring travelers to traverse through the snowy mountains and bad weather that is further punctuated almost year-round by deep gorges with steep cliffs. Even the ability to utilize the rivers is complicated by fast-flowing currents fed by mountain streams that periodically run off, causing traitorous conditions for the traveler. In spite of such terrains, the daily use of this route has been traced back to the Tang dynasty, 618 to 907, predating the aforementioned most notable trade route, the Silk Road that also runs east and west. The reason behind traders plying this dangerous route is the desire of two cultures, separated by almost impassable topography, to want an indigenous item that the other has. The explanation requires a contrast of the daily lives and needs of these two societies.

The main dietary staples of the Tibetan people consisted of butter, tsampa (roasted barley), beef, and lamb—all high in calories and very hard for the body to absorb—with little consumption of vegetables, especially at the high altitudes of the country. To assist in digestion of these foods and to offset the absence of vitamins found in vegetables, Tibetans like to drink Pu-erh, a post-fermented tea available in thick rectangular blocks or molded into flat squares or circle. Such tea was not consumed directly but mixed with yak butter, producing a rich salty beverage. The soil of Tibet did not allow for the growing of this healthy tea. Its cultivation was better suited to the neighboring region of the Yunnan province in China that produced Pu-erh tea in great surplus quantities, and hence was suitable for export. The movement of this valued commodity into Tibet would provide traders with excellent business and sustained profits, but as a barter system prevailed, merchants on both sides needed to find a valued resource to offset the purchase of Pu-erh tea to make any ­transactions feasible. The Chinese, it so happened, needed strong warhorses for their growing military campaigns. They were envious of the Tibetan mounted army, which was supplied by the superior horses reared on the plains of Central Asia and prized for their stamina and courage in battle.

Despite the contiguous land connections between Tibet and China, merchants carved a yearly usable path between the two countries for the purposes of trade for these two prized resources. Yunnan merchants traded their Pu-erh tea for potential military mounts, reselling them across China. Tibetan merchants in turn made good money by not only selling the tea domestically but also using it as a long-distance barter throughout Central Asia and into India. While the Tea-Horse Road allowed wealth to be transferred between the countries, in turn contributing to the ­economic development of each, it also provided a two-way cultural bridge that facilitated the introduction of Buddhism into China along with the exchange of ideas, customs, inventions, plus other tangible assets that both markets had within their respective domains. The desire for exotic and luxury goods stimulated many other regional and international trade routes, but this one is a bit more basic in application.

China’s historic reluctance to enter into global trade may also be a function of geographical size and population. Its vast land mass ­covered varying climates and terrains that yielded an abundance of natural resources that made the empire virtually self-sufficient. Its great technological strides in all sciences early on eclipsed the European Renaissance. In contrast to the smaller European countries and city-states that needed to reach out beyond their borders in order to both survive and grow as well as their need to constantly protect themselves from geographically close in foreign aggression were not issues that plagued China. During the Qin dynasty, China was unified and did not fear an alien invasion force as it was simply too big.

While China is not normally associated with the application of commercial principles, the Zhou dynasty, circa 770 to 221 BCE, produced a set of Lessons for businessmen to be successful. They were written by Tao Zhu-Gong, also known as Fan U. Like his contemporary Sun Tuz the author of the great treatise, The Art of War, he was a military strategist who later got into politics but became one of the country’s first ­millionaires via his trading activities. Relying on a combination of philosophical ­concepts and military disciplines his guidelines for business practitioners still remain an influential touchstone for Chinese managers today. His Lessons cover all aspects of running a commercial venture. They were originally 12 Lessons to which another 12 were added. Over time, they have evolved into a consolidated list of 16.26 They are:

1. In doing business, hard work is needed and laziness will destroy everything. Develop a sense of urgency.

2. In dealing with people, be polite and cordial. A bid attitude will destroy sales.

3. In negotiations, prices must be clearly stated and agree upon. Ambiguity will lead to argumenta and dispute.

4. In accounting, records must be properly kept, inspected, and monitored. Sloppiness and oversight will lead to cash-flow problems.

5. Display of goods must be well organized. Poor organization will lead to obsolescence and waste.

6. In granting credit to clients, be prudent. Carelessness will lead to defaulted payments.

7. In paying creditors, be on time. Delays will lead to loss of credibility.

8. In dealing with unexpected events, be agile and flexible. Negligence will lead to greater loss or lost opportunity.

9. In managing expenses, be economical and frugal. Extravagance will destroy wealth.

10. In conducting business (buying and selling), observe the right timing. Delay will lead to lost opportunity.

11. In selecting debtors, scrutinize them carefully. Carelessness will lead to uncollected debts.

12. In managing the business, good and bad must be clearly distinguished. Failing to do so will lead to confusion and chaos.

13. In selecting people, find those who are honest and upright. Using the wrong people will implicate the boss.

14. In purchasing, goods must be carefully examined. Careless buying will lead to a lower selling price.

15. In managing finance, one must possess good financial sense. Otherwise, it will lead to financial difficulty.

16. In decision making, be calm. Recklessness will lead to mistakes.

The esteemed author concluded his numerous points with a reference to opportunity, which he feels is only reserved for those who are prepared. This prime consideration remains as a common saying among modern Chinese businesspeople who often quote Zhu-Gong with the paraphrased direction:

Opportunities will not wait for those who are not prepared since every opportunity has an expiry date. An opportunity that is out of date has no economic value.

Japan and Foreign Commercialization

Between Japan’s southern Honshu Island and the Korean Peninsula, in the narrow strait, lies Tsushima Island. Such geography is the backdrop for the saying that “when a rooster crows at dawn in Pusan, one can hear it at Shimonoseki or vice versa.”27 It is not hard to conceive that a ­primitive land-hugging ocean vessel would have been used to bridge non-sanctioned trading groups from both nations. Similarly, merchants traveling down the elongated Malaysian land mass to Singapore and across the Straits of Singapore or Malacca to Indonesia and then east through the Java Sea would have access to the Pacific Island communities as well as Australia. Such journeys would entail less peril (in terms of blind water crossings); so presumably such paths were traveled by early traders. In spite of such geographical coastal navigation and proximity to southeast Asia, Japan experienced hundreds of years of self-imposed commercial isolation.

Early Japanese economy is well represented by the Kamakura period (1185 to 1333), which marked the Japanese medieval era, a nearly 700 year period in which the emperor, the court, and the ­traditional ­central ­government were left intact but were largely relegated to ­ceremonial ­functions. Power and control of the country were regulated under a localized or regional feudal system akin to medieval Europe. Both had land-based economies, vestiges of a previously centralized state, and a concentration of advanced military technologies in the hands of a ­specialized fighting class. Lords required the loyal services of vassals who were rewarded with fiefs of their own. The fief holders exercised local ­military rule and public power related to the holding of land around which the national economy was build. The imperial government did allow for the man-made island of Dejima in Nagasaki’s harbor to remain open to foreign trade, but this was highly controlled. Initial foreign trade was primarily carried out by intermediary third parties, namely the ­Portuguese, whom the Japanese referred to as Nanban, or southern barbarians. While the domestic population was deeply desirous of Chinese goods such as silk and porcelain, their merchants were prohibited from direct ­contact with commercial agents of the emperor of China as retaliation for Wokou (Japanese pirates) on their shoreline. In the late 1500s, however, the demand for pure silver around the world rose dramatically and Japan found itself being dragged into the global economy. This was due to the precious metal becoming the first internationally accepted medium of cross-border exchange. At this period, the only other large-scale source of this valued ore was the Spanish colonies in South America. Japan held the Far Eastern monopoly while Spain at the other end of the world enjoyed theirs. While such a valuable medium of exchange helped the Spanish to expand their empire and economically dominate the trade of the world, in competition with the Portuguese, the Japanese held no such desire. They valued their isolation by severely limiting extraterritorial trade, both export and import. In fact, they chose to use an intermediary third party, Portuguese merchants, as their trading agents for the export of silver and their domestic desire for valued foreign commodities like Chinese silk. The journey across the Pacific for the Portuguese merchant vessels was filled with peril, not only from the unpredictable forces of nature but also from the pirates encouraged by nations not able to participate in the new universally accepted currency, mainly Dutch privateers. On the other side of the world, the same fate awaited Spanish ships in the Atlantic as they were besieged by English buccaneers.

The beginning of the Edo period (1603 to 1868) coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade era, during which increased interaction with European powers, on the economic and cultural level, developed. It was during this time that Japan commissioned its first oceangoing Western-style warships—500-ton galleon-type ships—that eventually led to the construction of more than 350 designated Red Seal ships, three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. In spite of such outbound commercial advances, the country maintained a semi-isolated global trade position. The merchants involved in foreign trade as well as those in domestic commerce were considered below the elite ruling class, the warriors, educators, and craft artisans. Such positioning of those in commercial activities echoes many other societies around the world.

It was not until the advent of the sogo shosha (general trading firm or trading house) that Japan began its nation’s formalized exposure to the global marketplace in 1868.28 The detached nation island maintained its economic isolation, although periodic excursions were made to the Asian mainland, until extensive foreign trade was forced on it by ­Western ­countries in the intense pursuit of their mercantile policies.29 The sogo shoshas, beginning with the Mitsui Trading Company and followed by Mitsubishi Shoji, were built on the same principle as employed by the early European sovereigns who bestowed charters on firms venturing into new lands controlled by the monarchs. In the case of Japan, the ­government (Meiji political leadership) dispensed such favors and ­promoted their development. This initiative, originally based on ­countering the influence and power of foreign firms in Japan, who controlled their export trade, was the forerunner of their future economic strength. It became the conduit on which the country opened its culture to alien Western concepts, allowing the nation to grow into a more tolerant and understanding ­society of differing values. It was in essence the bridge that transformed an island into a real global force. Between the two great Far Eastern powers today—that is, China and Japan—the other countries in the region also utilized trade as building blocks of their societies, borrowing and learning from them.

Korean Trade

Although often dubbed the “Hermit Kingdom,” Korea enjoyed a rich trade history that included the export and import of products and ­technological advancements. The oldest artifacts found in Korea’s national museums delineate the rapid expansion of trade between the peninsula and the outside world as early as the fifth century. From the ancient days of the Three Kingdoms, the country was conducting ­commercial ­arrangements with its neighbors as well as served as a conduit to others. This is perhaps best exemplified by the arrival of Buddhism in 372 CE from its origination in India as carried by merchants to their land. The Koran monk Hyecho, from the Silla Kingdom, wrote a travelogue called “Wang ocheonchukguk jeon” or “Memoir of the pilgrimage to the five kingdoms of India.” Hyecho’s account of his travel on the Silk Road to ancient India is regarded as one of the best travel journals in the world, along with Marco Polo’s “The Travels of Marco Polo” (also known as “Il Milione”), and Ibn Battuta’s “The Travels of Ibn Battuta” (also known as “Rihla” or “T he Journey”), both noted in the text, as well as Odoric of Pordenone’s “The Travels of Friar Odoric.”

The mainstay of the internal economic exchange across ancient Korea, as exemplified by the records maintained during the Silla period, seems to have been either rice or textiles. The capital market was managed by kwansi, the state, and most of the high-level artisanship in the capital was concentrated in state-directed royal workshops. The imperial house was the biggest actor in these commercial transactions. For example, lots of paper for the sutra-copying at the state-run temples was annually required. Mokkan materials (inscribed wooden tablets) recorded these transactions with precise details. Private external trade started to flourish when central controls imposed by the imperial houses weakened in the late eighth to early ninth centuries.

While the Korean people were strongly influenced by Chinese trade goods and their inventions, the indigenous population adapted them and in many instances improved upon them, an initiative that in ­modern times is a mark of their savvy business accruement. For example, ­Chinese scholars had devised a rudimentary printing system using carved wooden blocks. But the adaptive Koreans took the invention to the next level ­creating the world’s first movable-type metal in the 12th century. Although Japan started minting metallic coins in the late seventh century compared to Chinese production a millennium earlier, the Koreans were not far behind with their own brand of currency in the 10th century.

Mesoamerica: The New but Old World

Mexico and South America

Separated by massive seas from the development of trade as exhibited by natural land bridges between the Middle East, southern Europe, and the Far East, the ancient societies of the Americas may have developed intercontinental trade routes of their own before their transoceanic ­commercial linkage was initiated by European explorers.

The old Mayan cities of modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize bartered up and down the jungle rivers of the region. Evidence shows that the Aztecs may have also traded with the Floridian Arawaks and other Caribbean-based Indians. Tlatelolco—the sister city of ­Tenochtitlan, which itself housed massive pyramids and was the center of the Aztec Empire—was home to thousands of vendors all contained in an orderly market adjacent to the main administrative buildings. The marketplace itself, attended by more than 60,000 customers daily, was supervised by government officials who regulated prices and sales. Exchange patrols, ready to punish violators, enforced legitimate weights and measures and collected transfer taxes. The government, recognizing the need for orderly trade throughout the realm, sponsored a hereditary caste of long-distance merchants called Puchteca, affording them royal status and proclaiming the god Yaheateuetli to watch over their valued activities.30

The Mayan civilization, close to the Mexican–Guatemalan border of today, mirrored the other great antiquated societies of the Aztecs to the east and the Incas in South America. The city of Calakmul housed about 50,000 people with their ruling influence stretching for 200 km. Their trading region, however, moved up and down Central America and even into the northern areas of South America. The city-state prospered around 800 BCE and it enabled the inhabitants to build some of the ­largest ­structures known in the Americas, including the largest pyramid in the world, La Danta. The Mayans prepared highly accurate calendars, sophisticated mathematics, and informative hieroglyphic writing, and the society was organized on a complex social and political order. What is most unique about these ancient people is that elaborate murals as unearthed by archeologists do not represent the activities of an elite class of rulers and priests.

They show elaborate market scenes of average people in their daily exchanges for the staples of life and also preparing or consuming products. Clearly shown are agricultural products like atole, tamales, and tobacco, as well as the sales of textiles and needles. The glyphs accompanying the murals describe the transactions taking place—a strong reference to the importance of the trading imperative in their lives. The Mayans engaged in long-distance area trade with a variety of the Mesoamerican societies, including groups in the central and even western gulf coast areas of what is now Mexico. They moved into the Caribbean islands and down into Colombia. Closer to their homeland, a concentrated lineal network was established that ran along the Boca Costa region in Guatemala, which connected Mexico with El Salvador.

On this path, large causeways were constructed for the movement of goods. Local farmers traveled to markets with their produce (a majority of which were cacao beans) using large baskets strapped to their backs and further supported by a forehead band. Inland waterways provided ­additional transport highways through canoes. Middlemen merchants ventured further, but as no horses nor pack animals or wheeled carts existed, they employed porters to carry their goods. While most trade was carried on by exchanging goods, a medium of equal value ­developed around the cacao bean, considered a luxury item. As a recognized ­currency in the region, one bean could buy one large tomato, three beans, and one poultry egg, while 100 could be exchanged for a rabbit or a hen, with 1,000 being paid for a slave, a fortune of war. Besides their accepted value in the exchange process, processed beans yielded ­chocolate, a then ­privileged drink for the elite such as the royalties, nobles, shamans, wealthy merchants, and artists. Cacao beans, while serving as a valued commodity and medium of exchange in the Aztec economic system, were also part of a ­transcontinental trade initiative between this ancient empire and the Pueblo people of the U.S. southwest. Recently, researchers have confirmed that this old American Indian tribe consumed a cacao-based beverage whose ingredient could only have been imported from a Mexican Mesoamerican source. Along with remnants of this widely ingested chocolate brew, macaws (colorful parrots), copper bells, and artisan objects indigenous to the Aztec-Mayan region have been found. ­Archaeologists surmise that, in return, the Pueblo Indians bartered turquoise.31

The cacao bean in this civilization was the equivalent of olive oil in the Mediterranean and salt in China and North Africa. It is also the ­forerunner of gold and silver in other parts of the world.

Long-distance trade yielded precious stones like jade and turquoise, as well as Spondylus shells used in jewelry, to which quetzal feathers were added as personal adornments for rich patrons. Raw and woven cotton; vanilla beans; and mined minerals like flint, pyrite, hematite, cinnabar, quartz, travertine, magnetite, and high-quality clays were commodities that all members of the Mayan culture used daily.

Beyond the widespread trading initiative, the commerce of the Mayan society exemplified an early form of a vertically integrated ­manufacturing system through the use of obsidian. This naturally ­occurring ­volcanic glass substance is renowned for its molecular thinness that can be used to produce sharp blades, and if highly polished, a mirror. ­Pre-Colombian ­Mesoamericans’ use of obsidian was extensive and sophisticated, ­including carved and worked obsidian for tools and decorative objects. ­Mesoamericans also made a type of sword with obsidian blades mounted in a wooden body. The weapon, called a macuahuitl, was capable of ­inflicting terrible injuries, combining the sharp cutting edge of an ­obsidian blade with the ragged cut of a serrated weapon. Even today, this unique substance is used to make surgical scalpels. The production of consumable items from this material created an ancient industry ­structured on an elaborate and integrated foreign supply chain coupled with a ­separated and distant manufacturing process. The supply chain began with the collection of the raw material at the mines. From such regions it was transported by merchants—using a cadre of simple porters, usually slaves, who carried the ore on their backs—to the workshops or simple factories of skilled craftsmen. In order to make practical use of obsidian, it must be cut and shaped into smaller fragments that can be placed in tools, a tiresome precise activity. Overall, the production of obsidian was very labor intensive and required the commercial linkages of far-flung groups of entrepreneurs all working together as opposed to the simple exchange of one product for another. Around 700 CE, it is estimated that the sister city of Calakmul and a rival commercial center, Tikal, had close to 100 of these obsidian workshops.

Given the extensive commercial activities of merchants in the Mayan society, their contribution to its general welfare resulted in their status being elevated to the elite, as the commoners relied on their trading ­initiatives to provide for the importation of goods providing daily work and supply of basic substances. These dependencies entrusted merchants with substantial power and wealth, creating a rising middle class to offset the strength of the royalties, nobles, and priests while creating a societal link to the lower classes.

Such political and economic interplay enabled the ancient Mayan civilization to flourish as a culturally enriched society. When this trade pattern was disrupted, it contributed to their collapse. While the actual collapse of the Mayan society is still a matter of conjecture with ­theories of drought, epidemic, foreign invasion, or the revolt of peasants ­considered, the loss of their strategic intricate trading systems, especially those connected to the central Mexican civilization—the Teotihuacan—may have been a prime element in their eventual demise.

In the southern part of the Western Hemisphere, another great ­civilization developed, the Incas. This empire stretched the entire continent of South America (see Figure 3.6). An extensive network of trade was facilitated by massive roadways that rivaled those constructed across Asia and during the Roman Empire for commercial travel (see ­Chapter 6). A tribute in the form of taxation of goods and services was paid to the royal house. It was said that the empire’s feared tax collectors would know even if something as small as a sandal went missing from the ­inventory of merchants.32 At the local level of agricultural products, ­cotton to ­potatoes, maize, and quinoa were bartered. Handcrafted goods in the form of clothes made from the sheerings of sheep, alpaca, and llama were valued commodities as was chichi or maize beer. Long-distance trade was administered and controlled by royal agents working with local or regional private merchants.

Figure 3.6 Mesoamerican empires

Note : 1. Aztec (ca. 1300 to 1531CE)

 2. Maya (ca. 200 to 900 CE)

 3. Inca (ca. 1200 to 1535 CE)

 

The Incas had no form of writing, and yet their system of ­numerical record keeping—multicolored string formations known as quipus—was incredibly accurate. Although the Inca Empire was constructed on ­military conquest, its maintenance and continuing development were built on a combination of economic and political alliances; all built around the commercial imperative dictated by the state.

A comparison of the commercial activities of the Aztecs and the Incas would seem to indicate that the Aztecs were more liberal in their ­economic systems and policies. Perhaps, due to a more open land ­geography and a more accessible land mass, Aztec merchants traded with distant groups and locally had a stronger open-market form of commercialism, while the Incas, secluded in the mountains, were closed to outside groups. ­However, the Incas built official roads to distant cities to connect their empire; such construction had been forbidden by the Aztec kings. In spite of not creating a state-sponsored brick and mortar infrastructure, the Aztecs developed a more sophisticated trading system and used cacao beans as a medium of exchange (a form of early currency). Aztec merchants were given more freedom and afforded a higher rank in society, while the Inca were not viewed as an important class. The merchant class in the Aztec Empire was a special subgroup called Pochteca (­professional, ­long-distance traders). Although they were below nobles (mainly priests and warriors), they were placed above the common farmers. They formed their own guilds (the precursor to modern trade organizations and unions), had their own rituals, and acted like a secret society akin to the masons of medieval Europe. Their status even demanded that they live apart from other city dwellers.

There is no recorded evidence of nautical voyages by the Olmecs, ­predecessors to the Mayans in Mexico, nor the Aztecs. The trading ­expeditions of these civilizations were land based except for coastline travel. However, mythical tales do mention venturing out to sea. It is possible, however, that Caribbean tribes who did travel between islands may have visited the shores of the Aztec Empire but no chronicled trace has been left of such voyages. The inhabitants of these landmasses surrounded by water did maintain trading privileges with their island neighbors. They even went so far as to record barter transactions on a surface format called amatl meaning bark paper that they constructed from the inner bark of fig trees. Symbols were used to identify material objects exchanged along with a rudimentary counting system.

While trade in this area remained rather geographically stagnant there is an example of the northern land spread of bartering by the people of Mesoamerica. The chemical appearance in the artifacts of the Pueblo people, those residing in what is now the United States southwest, of the consumption of chocolate would seem to confirm that some type of exchange took place between the regions. Researchers have established that a cacao based beverage was routinely partaken as part of their diet. It contained a base ingredient that could only have been imported from the Mesoamerican sources, as it was cultivated in prehistoric times from Mexico to Costa Rica by the Aztec and/or Maya civilizations. Also in evidence in the remnants of American indigenous tribes in the region were macaw (colorful parrots) remains, copper bells and decorative items whose origins were clearly Mesoamerican. Many archeologists feel that turquoise and other stone gems were the chief bartered items offered by southwest American Indians in exchange for such traded goods.33

With the coming of the Spanish conquistadors, Hernan Cortes entered the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in 1497 and Francisco Pizarro invaded the Inca city of Awkaypata in 1521, each desirous of only ­accumulating gold treasure. They did not come as trading expeditions. Not only were such civilizations placed in a state of military occupation and slavery by these European invaders, but their extensive commercial infrastructure, the economic life backbone of these empires, was destroyed, and their ­societies vanished.

Without internal and regional trade, societies are doomed to extinction.34 Today’s MNEs, which are bent on dominating the emerging markets they enter and monopolizing the extraction of domestic raw materials or utilizing cheap labor, would be wise not to destroy the social and economic infrastructure they encounter but to work to strengthen such foundations.

Caribbean

The settlement of the numerous islands in the Caribbean has been traced back to the Arawak people of South America, who ventured into the sea waters initially looking for new people and places to barter with. Approximately 1,500 years ago, this native Indian group migrated ­northward from the southern western hemisphere continent to inhabit the Caribbean Sea basin. They scattered among the many islands over the next millennium moving from the southernmost isles chains like the Antilles to the larger masses north such as Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Hispaniola. Certain groups identified themselves as Lokono. Lucayan, Carib, and Ciboney along with the original Arawak but the majority called themselves Taino, which stood for the term “the good people” in their ­language dialect. While they all shared a common ­geographical ­heritage they maintained a continuing linkage via an extensive sea trading relationship based on the original initiative, the exchange desire. Large oceangoing canoes plied across the waters of the Caribbean moving goods around the region. Remnants of various plant, animal, and fish species not native to specific island masses indicate that a massive and ­interdependent trading union existed among the islands and atolls making up the Caribbean area. Some researchers believe that their sea-faring trading missions touched the shores of eastern Central America, Mexico, and possibly the southern U.S. state of Florida. But there are no native tales and no relics pertaining to such voyages to be found in the records maintained by these island natives nor in the archives of the Mayans or later Aztecs or even their predecessors the Olmecs.

Mid-Atlantic and North America

Artic archaeologists excavating ruins of the exploratory travels of ­perhaps the first cross-Atlantic travelers, the Vikings, have uncovered ­artifacts dating back to 900 CE.35 These remnants demonstrated the trade value of exploring new territories. In what is now Iceland and Greenland, and even as far as Newfoundland, storehouses built by these ­Scandinavians contained caribou, otter and marten furs, walrus ivory, and bushes of soft bird down. These local materials were supplied by the indigenous Dorset hunting tribes. In the markets of Europe, they were prized luxuries. Among the artifacts were fragments of what has been called Viking tally sticks, notched wooden poles of various lengths to record trade transactions. Such similar record keeping, as found in other regions of the world, was indicative of the constant exchange routine as it enabled the parties to remember the values assigned in the bartered exchange process.

Further to the northeast, in what is now the United States of America, people along the Mississippi Valley Delta after 500 BCE used their ­domesticated agricultural experience to engage in long-distance trade across the continent. The most prosperous society of the time is the ­multitiered and earthen building of Cahokia Mounds, which is located just east of St. Louis, which housed around 20,000 people in 1200 CE. In the southwest, the Hohokam people (200 to 1500 CE) may have acted as the middlemen for commercial development between the ­California coast and the Rocky Mountains of Utah and Colorado while even ­stretching into the Great Plains of Central America. In Florida, ancient indigenous Indian tribes had trade relationships with the early Tainos (or the Arawaks), who inhabited the Caribbean Sea and bartered with other island dwellers along with native inhabitants of Central and South America.

While Christopher Columbus sought a western route to the Far East, the English established settlements on the east coast of North America with other European nations staking their claims in the New World.

While the Dutch made a major commercial center out of New ­Amsterdam (New York), the exploration of the continent’s interior was still based on finding a faster and more efficient way to the riches of the East. Both from France, Jacques Cartier of France explored the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River and Jean Alfonse de Saintonge tracked the coast of Labrador in the 1540s in their attempt to find a western route to China. The Englishman George Weymouth’s journey in the Arctic also mirrored such a desire, as evidenced by the fact that he carried with him a letter of introduction from his monarch Elizabeth I to the emperor of China cased in diplomatic wording of the day aimed at establishing mutual trading arrangements. A contemporary of Weymouth, Samuel Champlain was the leader of French mission of the Great Lakes region organized for the prime purpose of finding a northwest passage to the Pacific. Champlain’s original commission for the journey at the behest of Henri IV in 1603 was based on traversing the New World to the countries of China and the East Indies. While Champlain did not succeed in meeting the ­continuing costs of such a venture, it was supplemented by his trading ventures with the indigenous native tribes, especially in respect to the lucrative fur trade—animal skins. Although the North American Indians had already established among themselves a medium of exchange known as wampum (made of shell beads); exchange between the ­European merchants and the native traders was still bartered goods. Traded goods originating in the marketplace of Paris in the 17th ­century valued at one livre could be exchanged for beaver pelts. These pelts, once brought back across the Atlantic, were worth more than 200 livres. Such a profit margin encouraged the various European commercial agents in the New World to build trade alliances with the unsuspecting tribes, fomenting wars between such rival groups in order to establish a regional monopoly for themselves.

Early Global Trade in Other Regions and Countries

Besides China and India, which make up half of the prime Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) countries, other markets are worthy of further inspection as their historic positioning in intercontinental trade events provides a background for dealing with them today. The BRIC acronym for the group composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China was coined by Jim O’Neill in a 2001 Goldman Sachs paper entitled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs.”36 The ellipsis has come into widespread use as a symbol of the apparent shift in global economic power away from the developed The Group of 7 (G7) economies toward the developing world.

Russia

Reverting to its historic designation, after the demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in December 1991, Russia has a rich past in the regional globalization of the world. Like many countries, early Russia grew out of a loose collection of cities that galvanized into an empire. This ancient land mass stretching from Eastern Europe to the Far East was more involved with trade routes lying to the north and south and then east and west. It was only through trade with Persia that spices from the orient, such as pepper, canella, ginger, and saffron, and other goods such as silk, goat skins, and dies from the Far East came into the Russian market. The northern route toward these lands did not allow for direct contact; so Russians had to also rely on the Silk Road for the prized exotic merchandise that followed from them. In the Middle Ages, the Volga Trade route ran to Scandinavia across Germany and the ­Netherlands using the Caspian Sea via the Volga River. Across the Black Sea, Mediterranean commercial associations moved from the Varangians to Greece. The Romans were said to have relied on Russian wheat production to supplement shipments from Egypt.

Even up through medieval times, it was specific cities in Russia that were recorded as worthy of business contact as opposed to people ­designated as Russian. The towns of Pskov and Novgorod were actively engaged as trading hubs for merchants plying Western Europe via north German towns. Scandinavian commercial records mention them as well as Kiev, Polotsk, Murom, and Rostove. It is noteworthy that the Vikings, notorious for plunder as opposed to trade relations, maintained normal business exchanges with Russian providers of craft goods; stone and metal workers, especially padlocks with complicated designed keys and icon painters. To the south, the Russians traded furs and leathers, notably sable, squirrel, marten, and beaver along with wax and honey. In return, they received Venetian glass along, Egyptian and damascene cloth, and Byzantine ornamental jewelry.

The early Slavs and other ethnic groups in Russia did not practice long-distance trade. However, the limited dealing they had with alien societies forced them to modify traditional clannish practices as influenced by religious tenets in the exchange process. Although Prince Vladimir converted the East Slavs to Orthodox Christianity in 988, pre-Christian polytheism persisted for hundreds of years among the people, alongside Christian practices and beliefs. Historically, it was the arrival of Viking princes, who had been invited to rule over the various Slavic groups that brought about the first transition from tribal custom to the writing of what would later be called Russkaia Pravda (Russian law). It was the Vikings who introduced commercial laws, standards for weight and measure, and even uniform money as a recognized medium of exchange value to the ancient Russian people. The impact of Roman law on medieval Russia, given their contact with Byzantium, have led some to believe that Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) may have had an impact on the Russian commercial legal tradition but no direct evidence exists. The Mongol invasion did little to alter internal business practices in Russia as these rulers were more like absentee landlords intent on just collecting rent, in this case taxes. It did however offer the opportunity for increased intercontinental trade under the principles of the Pax Mongolica. The Pax Mongolica was a time when Mongols brought peace, stability, economic growth, and the fusion of numerous cultures across and between their occupied territories. Mongolian rulers recognized the importance of trade for an empire to prosper and last. They kept their trade routes well protected so that merchants could safely move across their occupied territory. They even established a communication system, an ancient postal service, to link commercial parties so that long-distance trade could flourish pulling the Slavic majority into the global mix.

The people of the ancient Russian area did not contribute to globalization but they were certainly the unintended recipients of the more ­progressive commercialization its neighbors exhibited. Centuries later, after World War II, the expanded USSR benefited from the more extensive historic trading relationships its satellite nations inherited.

Brazil

Brazil, the largest country in South America, has been the subject of archaeological speculation as to ancient international trade contact across the Pacific and the Atlantic. Some researchers have proposed that Polynesian sea journeys made their way to the continent as evidenced by genetic sequences in the DNA of Botocudo Indians, a tribe of indigenous people living in eastern Brazil that is similar to these Pacific islanders. Other theories based on a time when the Atlantic Ocean was not as wide ­separating the east coast of South America with the west coast of Africa, with perhaps the legendary island kingdom of Atlantis in the middle, ­suggest that West African tribes or the Phoenicians along with expeditions from other kingdoms in the Levant journeyed there. This hypothesis is based on archaeological findings that place Phoenician relics consisting of shipyards and harbors built by them. Some base the idea on supposedly ­Phoenician inscriptions found in the Amazon, which reference the many kings of Sidon and Tyre, cities established by the Phoenicians from 887 to 856 BCE. Still others feel that expeditions from fabled Atlantis or perhaps the Vikings first established trade with the local natives whose ancestors crossed the Bering land bridge and eventually settled in the region. David Pratt37 best sums up all these theories with a simple statement:

It appears that voyages to the Americas have been taking place from all parts of the world for countless thousands of years. The predominant aim seems to have been trade and explorations or the establishment of local colonies, rather than large-scale military conquest and the subjugation and conversion of “inferior” races, as was the case with the European invasions in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Other stories abound that the Inca Empire, with primary trade routes situated on the west coast of South America from Peru up to Columbia, had made commercial expeditions over the Andes mountain range and along the Amazon River into Brazil (note preceding section on ­Mesoamerica). However, what is confirmed is that Brazil began its proven entry to globalization under the forced tutelage of European colonial rule. Following the dividing of the New World under the papal bull, Inter Caetera in 1493 (again noted in Chapter 8), the Portuguese claim to ­Brazil propelled the country into the global commercial arena. Following a nationalistic mercantile commercial policy Brazilian trade was strictly limited to their own citizens and registered ships. The prime exportable resource of this underdeveloped country was sugar and the Europeans could not get enough. Small farms became massive plantations and with the enlarged cultivated territory came the need for a massive labor force to harvest the prized sugarcane. This necessitated at first indigenous native slaves and then the massive importation from Africa as the local workers were highly susceptible to the diseases their European overlords infected them with (see Chapter 6 and the Toxic Nature of International Trade).

It wasn’t until the 19th century that a shift to another worldwide desired commodity, coffee, replaced the sugar industry. So large was the demand for this new product that a wave of almost one million ­Europeans, mostly Italians, immigrated to the country. Both the forced slave migration in regard to sugar and the later voluntary immigration related to coffee comprised the two largest movements of populations the world had ever seen. Both were based on global trade.

The Dutch who had been the previous collateral carriers of Brazilian sugar and tobacco to Europe responded to smuggling but the economy of the country was in the hands of the Portuguese. Two centuries later, after the successful Portuguese revolt against Spain, the Methuen Treaty of 1703 was made with England, their ally in the war. Under the pact, British merchants were permitted to trade between Portugal and Brazil as long as the physical transaction touched both shores. Such required ­restriction was rarely abided by and British merchants made deeper inroads into Brazilian foreign trade. In the early 1800s when Napoléon invaded ­Portugal, a new treaty with the United Kingdom was reluctantly signed giving them carte blanch trading privileges with Brazil.

While there is no doubt that the ancient indigenous tribes in ­Brazil traded among themselves, it seems that all extraterritorial exposure to the world around them was initiated by the international trade initiative. This global commercial force had the effect of re-engineering the racial and social landscape of the country. As referenced earlier, the cultivation and subsequent harvesting of sugar for export created an economic need for an intensive low-cost labor force requiring the subrogation of the ­indigenous population and the import of slaves. The majority of ­African slaves shipped to the Western Hemisphere went to South America with the largest percentage ending up in Brazil. (See Chapter 6—African Slave Trade). Unlike other territories where the local natives and imported slaves were strictly separated from their masters, the immigrated ­Europeans engaged in mixed marriages with Indians and Africans to a degree not encountered elsewhere. As a result, a vast multiplicity of ethnic and cultural legacies is a notable feature of the current Brazilian population.

Connecting East and West: Initial Contact

In Cathay and the Way Thither, originally translated and edited by Sir Henry Yule and revised by Henri Cordier, the adventures of merchant explorers are recounted from Persia through India and onto China. This book, one of the first scholarly works to be published (Marco Polo’s earlier adventure story is considered semifiction) on the intercourse between China and the Western societies, portrays a vivid picture of how people at both ends of the then known earth learned from each other as ideas were transferred.38

As Yule recounts, civilization developed on the back of intercontinental trade, hitching a ride on the engine of the commercial imperative. The spread of the Islamic religion to the East, a basic tenet of culture and a pillar on which civilized society was constructed, was enhanced by these multiregional commercial ventures. Arab merchants brought their faith with them, combining the commercial activity with their religious convictions. Today the populations in the Far East nations of Indonesia (87 percent) and Malaysia (53 percent), as well as large segments of the territories they crossed, Turkey (98.7 percent), Pakistan (97 percent), and even India (14 percent), bear the mark of such trade agents’ inspiration homage to their religion. The exploration of the Western Hemisphere by Columbus and later Cortes and Pizarro intertwined their mercantile imperative with ­religious overtones, allowing for the blessing of the ­Catholic Church in their endeavors. The colonization of the territories discovered by them as well as other global expeditions based primarily on the commercialization of the region’s resources carried a religious imprint that still exists to this day with such areas overwhelmingly bearing connotations of Catholicism. As presented earlier, one of the prime motivations for the Chinese imperial court to authorize the sailing of the Star Fleet to circumnavigate the globe was the desire to spread the works of Confucius.

Commercial caravans making their way across Arabian areas controlled by Bedouin brotherhoods were required to pay a tribute to those in control of their routes. Centuries later, as the American west was ­settled, wagon trains of settlers crossing Indian tribal lands also paid homage for safe conduct. One of the important initial acts of the United States after the war for independence and enacted by the first Continental ­Congress was the passage of an import tariff. Such an action not only proclaimed to the world their right as an independent nation to chart their own ­sovereign power over international trade but also helped to fund the ­fledgling federal government. The early trade routes ­connecting East and West also gave rise to two periods, which William Bernstein calls “the disease of trade.”39 While many are familiar with the Black Death that ­ravished Europe in the 14th century, a similar plague occurred ­earlier from 540 to 800 CE. Both pandemics have been traced to the then ­growing commercial exchanges occurring around the world.

As Bernstein recalls, the first act (the beginning of the Common Era) was due to infected fleas carried by black rats scampering over the mooring ropes of outbound trading ships anchored on India’s western Malabar Coast. Traveling on the seasonal westbound monsoon winds, the disease that contaminated the cargo’s vessels was carried across the Indian Ocean to southern Arabia and up the Red Sea maritime route to Alexandria, the Mesopotamia region, and Constantinople, reducing the power and prestige of the Byzantines and Persian Empires. The infection rate was so devastating that by 700 CE the population of Constantinople was cut in half. Since India acted as a geographical centralized trading hub between West and East, its merchant ships also engaged Chinese seaports. While quantifiable results of the plague in the East are hard to verify, it could be assumed that the Tang dynasty was deeply affected. Some reports of the era indicate that half of the province of Shandong died and that during a concurrent period to the Western devastation, the population of China decreased by 25 percent.40

The bubonic-type plague that returned in 13th century was not ­seaborne like before but was tied to the increased development of trade across the land route linking East and West, more commonly known as the Silk Road. While again attributed to originating from Central Asia, it was ­initially transmitted by the conquest of the Mongol armies marching across the continent westward. In the pathway created by the Mongol Empire came merchant traders who used the Pax Mongolica to move across the newly unified connecting regions of the Middle East, Asia Minor, and China; and from there, into the highly populated areas in Europe. At each caravansary, trading outposts created by these commercial agents, the disease spread among owners, workers, and guests and spread the progress of the outbreak by scattering survivors in all directions.

When the pandemic reached its peak in 1350, the European population is estimated to have decreased by 30 percent to 60 percent with the world population losing approximately 100 million inhabitants. According to Mongol and Ming census data between 1330 and 1430, the plague reduced the population of China, which lost 21 million people. The deaths, attributable to the illness, were caused not only by the disease but also by the destruction of economic life left in its wake. Trade, even between local towns, came to a standstill as each village tried to wall itself off from outside contamination. Agricultural workers and laborers in all trades were affected with the result that global production of necessities dropped severely and famine struck urban centers. Government revenue via taxation, tied to the exchange process, was depressed and normal administrative services were disrupted. Unable to understand how the sickness started, blame fell on anything foreign. Alien groups and ­religious minorities, especially Jews, in several areas were driven out or killed, being suspected as bearers of the plague. Cross-territorial movement came to a virtual standstill, and with it, international trade greatly diminished. Because of the devastation, the last vestiges of power and wealth previously centered in the Middle and Far East began to fade, ushering in a new era of European dominance on the historic trajectory of world trade. It is impossible to cover and relate the activities of all the societies involved in ancient trade in this limited chapter. Even local groups exchanging with each other were part of a far-reaching, interwoven network that covered a greater part of the earth, and each independent transaction eventually reached out to a greater circle of connected parties. The recent discovery and carbon dating of Arab-marketed silver coins have provided evidence that ancient global trade reached northern Germany 1,200 years ago. As these pieces of exchange originated in Northern Africa, Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan and were made anywhere from 610 to 820, their discovery in the remains of a Slavic conclave, near a Viking settlement, is indicative of a century’s old trading post between east and west.41 Such findings seem to continuously support the contention that as archeological researchers dig deeper in the past of scattered tribal groups around the globe they will continue to find remnants and artifacts that support the simple fact that the world was much more connected by trade than first conceived.

It is outside the scope of this book to cover all examples of cross-­territorial trade in the ancient world. The chapter materials are used however to illustrate the extensive networks and patterns of commercial exchanges that the pioneers of modern-day globalization constructed that traversed intercontinental areas and touched numerous early societies across and between vast geographical territories around the world.