Land And Water Routes Zahria Mundy, Jayla Johnson, Asia Walker

Mediterranean Sea Lanes

The Mediterranean sea lane is a trade route that connected the Mediterranean civilizations together. ( Rome, Syria, Palestine, Spain, and North Africa. Items such as oil, fish, fruit, and cereals were traded through this route. This trade lane allowed merchants in Rome to have a higher status. Hinduism and Buddhism were two religions that were contracted through this trade route. Also diseases such as small pox, measles, and the plague were which causes the trade worldwide to decline.

Indian Ocean Sea Lanes

The Indian ocean trade routes connected Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa. Routes went from India to the Arabian Peninsula then to Africa. Major empires involved in the Indian Ocean trade included the Mauryan Empire in India, the Han Dynasty Empire in China, and the Achaemenid Empire in Persia. Strong north-east winds blow from October until April. From May until October south and west winds prevail.

Indian Ocean Sea Lanes (cont.) Ethnicity - Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. - Spread from India to Asia - Brought by merchants rather by missionaries. Trade Goods - Oil Africa exported gold, slaves, ivory hide, and tortoise shells. Africa imported porcelain and weapons. Importance of Indian Ocean - More than 80 percent of the world’s seaborne trade in oil transits through Indian Ocean choke points, with 40 percent passing through the Strait of Hormuz, 35 percent through the Strait of Malacca and 8 percent through the Bab el-Mandab Strait.- All the world’s major powers have deployed substantial military forces in the Indian Ocean region.- China’s aggressive soft power diplomacy has widely been seen as arguably the most important element in shaping the Indian Ocean strategic environment, transforming the entire region’s dynamics.

Trans-Saharan Caravan

Trans-Saharan Caravan : The Trans- Saharan route is the weaving web of trade throughout the Sahara. This is made possible through the domestication of the camel and development of a saddle. Items from Sub-Saharan Africa first went to Eastern Africa, to Meroe and Axsum, where it then expanded. Silent trade, as described earlier, was often utilized. Desert salt was an important trading commodity. They exported forest products, kola nuts, palm oil, rhinoceros horns, tortoise shells, ivory, emeralds, and gold. And salt. They imported cloth, glass, olive oil, wine, brass, iron, and copper.

Eurasian Silk Roads:

What a silk road is: a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction though regions of the Asian continent connecting the west and east. Trade on the silk roads was significant factor in the development of the civilizations of China, the India subcontinent, Persia, Europe, and Arabia, opening long -distance, political and economic interactions between the civilizations. Main commodity was silk -Sent west was paper, furs, tea, and ceramics -Sent east were ivory, glass, spices, metal work, and aromatic -Also technology and culture- both objects and ideas -Missionary and merchants carried their religions (such as Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism) to distant lands - Shared how items were made like glass making, paper making, metal working and how silk was made even though silk had already been practiced in China for thousand of years Scientific knowledge of subjects such as astronomy and mathematics The Han Chinese people in Xi’an, the Uyghur people in Turf an, the ordains in Samarkand, and Arabs in Baghdad. The silk roads brought globalization to the ancient world The complex network gave many people- including Greek, Indians, Persians, Arabs, and Han Chinas- their first contact with distant civilizations Many of the contemporary inventions, like grape winemaking and paper money, are still in use today These movements of objects and ideas helped lay the foundations of the modern world today.

References --Page, Willie F., and R. Hunt Davis, eds. "trans-Saharan trade routes."Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500 to 1500), vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. ItemID=WE49&iPin=AHCII0503&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 13, 2014). --Perkins, Dorothy. "Silk Road." Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. New York: Facts On File, Inc., Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. ItemID=WE49&iPin=china02124&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 13, 2014). -- Page, Willie F., and R. Hunt Davis, eds. "caravan routes in Africa." Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: Ancient Africa (Prehistory to 500 CE), vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File, Inc. ItemID=WE49&iPin=AHCI0123&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 13, 2014).