Editing Trade (section)

====Mediterranean and Near East====
The earliest evidence of writing is deeply bound up in trade, as [[History of ancient numeral systems#Clay tokens|a system of clay tokens]] used for accounting – found in Upper Euphrates valley in Syria dated to the 10th millennium BCE – is one of the earliest versions of writing. 

[[Ebla]] was a prominent trading center during the third millennia BCE, with a network reaching into Anatolia and north Mesopotamia.<ref name="E Blake, A B Knapp" /><ref name="Laura S. Etheredge">{{citation |title=Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan |date=2011 |page=44 |editor-last=Etheredge |editor-first=Laura S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLZQrmRQafcC&pg=PA44 |access-date=2012-06-15 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-61530-329-8}}.</ref><ref name="Dumper & Stanley">{{citation |last1=Dumper |first1=M. |title=Cities of The Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&q=Ebla+trade&pg=PA141 |access-date=2012-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205065648/https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&q=Ebla+trade&pg=PA141 |archive-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-919-5 |last2=Stanley |first2=B. E.}}.</ref><ref>[[Bamber Gascoigne]] et al. HistoryWorld.net.</ref>

[[File:Silk route copy.jpg|thumb|A map of the [[Silk Road]] trade route between Europe and Asia]]

Materials used for creating [[jewelry]] were traded with Egypt since 3000 BCE. Long-range trade routes first appeared in the 3rd millennium BCE, when [[Sumer]]ians in [[Mesopotamia]] traded with the [[Harappan civilization]] of the [[Indus River|Indus Valley]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Jane R. |title=The ancient Indus valley: new perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-907-2 |series=ABC-CLIO's understanding ancient civilizations |location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=190–191}}</ref> The [[Phoenicians]] were noted sea traders, traveling across the [[Mediterranean Sea]], and as far north as [[Prehistoric Britain|Britain]] for sources of [[tin]] to manufacture [[bronze]]. For this purpose they established trade colonies the Greeks called [[Emporia (ancient Greece)|emporia]].<ref name="archa">{{cite journal |author=Dikov |first=Ivan |date=July 12, 2015 |title=Bulgarian Archaeologists To Start Excavations of Ancient Greek Emporium in Thracians' the Odrysian Kingdom |url=http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2015/07/12/bulgarian-archaeologists-to-start-excavations-of-ancient-greek-emporium-in-thracians-odrysian-kingdom/ |url-status=dead |journal=Archaeology in Bulgaria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712235249/http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2015/07/12/bulgarian-archaeologists-to-start-excavations-of-ancient-greek-emporium-in-thracians-odrysian-kingdom/ |archive-date=12 July 2015 |access-date=28 October 2010 |quote=An emporium (in Latin; “emporion" in Greek) was a settlement reserved as a trading post, usually for the Ancient Greeks, on the territory of another ancient nation, in this case, the Ancient Thracian Odrysian Kingdom (5th century BC – 1st century AD), the most powerful Thracian state.}}</ref> Along the coast of the Mediterranean, researchers have found a positive relationship between how well-connected a coastal location was and the local prevalence of archaeological sites from the Iron Age. This suggests that a location's trade potential was an important determinant of human settlements.<ref>Jan David Bakker, Stephan Maurer, Jörn-Steffen Pischke and Ferdinand Rauch. 2021. "[[doi:10.1162/rest a 00902|Of Mice and Merchants: Connectedness and the Location of Economic Activity in the Iron Age.]]" ''Review of Economics and Statistics,'' 103 (4): 652–665.</ref>

The [[complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir]], dated 1750 BCE, documents the tribulations of a copper merchant at the time.

From the beginning of Greek [[civilization]] until the fall of the [[Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, a financially lucrative trade brought valuable [[spice]] to Europe from the far east, including India and China. [[Roman commerce]] allowed its empire to flourish and endure. The latter Roman Republic and the [[Pax Romana]] of the Roman empire produced a stable and secure transportation network that enabled the shipment of trade goods without fear of significant [[piracy]], as Rome had become the sole effective sea power in the [[Mediterranean]] with the conquest of Egypt and the near east.<!--{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}--><ref>[[Pax Romana]] let average villagers throughout the Empire conduct day-to-day affairs without fear of armed attack.</ref>

In ancient Greece [[Hermes]] was the god of trade<ref>P. D. Curtin. [https://books.google.com/books?id=R4IiYFhliv4C&q=history+of+trade Cross-Cultural Trade in World History]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905215329/https://books.google.com/books?id=R4IiYFhliv4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=history+of+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kNLoT47ZI9OwhAfUxoz0DA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20trade&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. Cambridge University Press, 1984. {{ISBN|0-521-26931-8}}. Retrieved 2012-06-25.</ref><ref>N. O. Brown. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BzNfeQSXKfcC&dq=Hermes+god+of+trade&pg=PA36 Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905184625/https://books.google.com/books?id=BzNfeQSXKfcC&pg=PA36&dq=Hermes+god+of+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k9PoT4rqM4yA8gPotPClCg&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Hermes%20god%20of%20trade&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. SteinerBooks, 1990. {{ISBN|0-940262-26-6}}. Retrieved 2012-06-25.</ref> (commerce) and weights and measures.<ref>D. Sacks, O. Murray. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KeEjUjSaDA0C&dq=god+Hermes&pg=PA110 A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905193758/https://books.google.com/books?id=KeEjUjSaDA0C&pg=PA110&dq=god+Hermes&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6_rpT-PSN6HU0QXZnJGqAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=god%20Hermes&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-511206-7}}. Retrieved 2012-06-26.</ref> In ancient Rome, ''[[Mercury (mythology)|Mercurius]]'' was the god of merchants, whose festival was celebrated by traders on the 25th day of the fifth month.<ref>[[Alexander S. Murray]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfpYS1fV2R8C&dq=Hermes+god+of+trade&pg=PA127 Manual of Mythology]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905194008/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfpYS1fV2R8C&pg=PA127&dq=Hermes+god+of+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ntToT7WRKITG8gOA0YTUCg&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=Hermes%20god%20of%20trade&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. Wildside Press LLC, 2008. {{ISBN|1-4344-7028-8}}. Retrieved 2012-06-25.</ref><ref>John R. Rice. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6hl1wry0QrAC&dq=Hermes+god+of+trade&pg=PA323 Filled With the Spirit]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905192632/https://books.google.com/books?id=6hl1wry0QrAC&pg=PA323&dq=Hermes+god+of+trade&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yNXoT5v4HcfS8gOM7OzVCg&ved=0CD0Q6AEwATgy#v=onepage&q=Hermes%20god%20of%20trade&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. Sword of the Lord Publishers, 2000. {{ISBN|0-87398-255-X}}. Retrieved 2012-06-25.</ref> The concept of free trade was an antithesis to the will and economic direction of the sovereigns of the ancient Greek states. Free trade between states was stifled by the need for strict internal controls (via taxation) to maintain security within the treasury of the sovereign, which nevertheless enabled the maintenance of a ''[[Wikt:modicum |modicum]]'' of civility within the structures of functional community life.<ref>[[Johannes Hasebroek]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=743zWquWmesC&dq=ancient+treasury&pg=PA151 Trade and Politics in Ancient Greece]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905191144/https://books.google.com/books?id=743zWquWmesC&pg=PA151&dq=ancient+treasury&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hxX0T9H5MIXb8AOG8PG_Bw&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=ancient%20treasury&f=false|date=2015-09-05}}. Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 1933. Retrieved 2012-07-04. {{ISBN|0-8196-0150-0}}.</ref><ref>Cambridge dictionaries online.{{full citation needed|date=October 2023}}</ref>

The fall of the Roman empire and the succeeding [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]] brought instability to [[Western Europe]] and a near-collapse of the trade network in the western world. Trade, however, continued to flourish among the kingdoms of Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and Southeast Asia. Some trade did occur in the west. For instance, [[Radhanite]]s were a medieval guild or group (the precise meaning of the word is lost to history) of [[Jew]]ish merchants who traded between the [[Christians]] in Europe and the [[Muslim]]s of the Near East.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gil |first1=Moshe |author-link=Moshe Gil |title=The Rādhānite Merchants and the Land of Rādhān |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=17 |issue=3 |page=299}}</ref>