Medieval Trade Routes
Medieval Europe was an agricultural society in which most people lived in small villages. In the 1000s and 1100s, however, Europe experienced a revival of trade and an associated growth of towns and cities. Many other areas of the world also experienced growth due to trade, and it is through these trade routes that many of these areas were connected for the first time.
Mediterranean Sea TRade
The revival of trade in Europe was gradual. Italian cities, such as Venice, developed a mercantile fleet (a fleet of trading ships) and became major trading centers in the Mediterranean. The towns in Flanders, an area along the coast of present-day Belgium and northern France, were ideally located for northern European traders. By the 1100s, a regular trade had developed between Flanders and Italy. Merchants from surrounding areas came to Flanders for woolen cloth. In the thirteenth century, a medieval trade association, the Hanseatic League, developed in the Baltic and North Sea region. The Hanseatic League was an alliance of more than 100 northern European cities that banded together for mutual trade protection and economic opportunity. To encourage trade, the counts of Champagne, in northern France, initiated a series of annual trade fairs. Northern European merchants brought furs, woolen cloth, tin, hemp, and honey to trade for cloth and swords from northern Italy and the silks, sugar, and spices of the East. As trade increased, so did the demand for gold and silver coins. Slowly, a money economy—an economic system based on money rather than barter— emerged. New trading companies and banking firms were set up to manage the exchange and sale of goods. These new practices were part of the rise of commercial capitalism, an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods for profit.
Trans-Saharan Trade Route
The Sahara desert acts as a barrier that separates people between Sub-Saharan Africa (Africa below the Saharan) from the Mediterranean world and Asia. However, trade still flourished in this region due to two specific factors. First, the Sahara contains underground springs of fresh water called oases. Second, beasts of burden called camels are native to the area and can travel long distances without needing to stop for water. Once traders on camels located the oases, they were making the trip on a regular basis.
Merchants were especially motivated to cross the Sahara because of gold and other riches that were under the control of the West African kingdoms. West Africans were eager to trade these riches for salt, which was not available in West Africa but is necessary for human survival. By the 7th century, a thriving trade developed that exchanged not only salt and gold, but other products as well as Islamic beliefs.
Merchants were especially motivated to cross the Sahara because of gold and other riches that were under the control of the West African kingdoms. West Africans were eager to trade these riches for salt, which was not available in West Africa but is necessary for human survival. By the 7th century, a thriving trade developed that exchanged not only salt and gold, but other products as well as Islamic beliefs.
The Silk Road
During the Middle Ages, the Chinese expanded their trade to include not only silk textiles, but also new inventions like porcelain, gunpowder, and the navigational compass. The Silk Road became more popular and increasingly well-traveled over the course of the Middle Ages, and were still in use in the 19th century, a testimony not only to their usefulness but also to their flexibility and adaptability to the changing demands of society. Nor did these trading paths follow any one trail – merchants had a wide choice of different routes crossing a variety of regions of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Far East, as well as the maritime routes, which transported goods from China and South East Asia through the Indian Ocean to Africa, India and the Near East.
Perhaps the most lasting legacy of the Silk Roads has been their role in bringing cultures and peoples in contact with each other, and facilitating exchange between them. On a practical level, merchants had to learn the languages and customs of the countries they traveled through, in order to negotiate successfully. Cultural interaction was a vital aspect of material exchange.Knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Roads, and in this way, languages, religions and cultures developed and influenced each other.
Perhaps the most lasting legacy of the Silk Roads has been their role in bringing cultures and peoples in contact with each other, and facilitating exchange between them. On a practical level, merchants had to learn the languages and customs of the countries they traveled through, in order to negotiate successfully. Cultural interaction was a vital aspect of material exchange.Knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Roads, and in this way, languages, religions and cultures developed and influenced each other.