Geography · Ch 8 — International Trade
History of International Trade
History of International Trade
The earliest trade was local. Moving goods over long distances was dangerous, so most people bought what they needed from nearby markets. The vast majority spent their money on food and clothing — basic necessities. Only the wealthy could afford jewellery and costly garments, so the first long-distance trade was in luxury items.
The Silk Route is the classic early example of such trade. It stretched roughly 6,000 km, linking Rome to China. Along this route, traders carried Chinese silk, Roman wool and precious metals, as well as other high-value goods from intermediate points in India, Persia and Central Asia.
After the Roman Empire fell apart, European commerce revived in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The development of ocean-going warships made it possible to trade between Europe and Asia on a larger scale, and the Americas were discovered.
From the fifteenth century onward, European colonialism took hold. Alongside the trade in exotic commodities, a brutal new form of trade emerged: the slave trade. The Portuguese, Dutch, Spaniards and British captured African natives and forcibly transported them to the newly discovered Americas to work on plantations. For more than two hundred years, this was a highly profitable business. It was abolished in Denmark in 1792, in Great Britain in 1807, and in the United States in 1808.
An American slave auction advertisement from 1829 (Figure 8.2 in the textbook) shows that slaves were sold or hired out by their owners. Buyers often paid as much as two thousand dollars for a skilled, healthy slave. Such auctions frequently tore families apart — many never saw their loved ones again.
The Industrial Revolution changed the pattern of trade again. Demand for raw materials — grains, meat, wool — expanded greatly. But the monetary value of these primary products fell relative to manufactured goods. Industrialised nations imported primary products as raw materials and exported finished, value-added goods back to non-industrialised countries. …
This figure is a scan of an original printed handbill from 1829, a type of public advertisement common in the American South before the abolition of slavery. The heading at the top reads: “TO BE SOLD & LET BY PUBLIC AUCTION, On MONDAY the 18th of MAY, 1829.” Below this, the handbill lists specific enslaved individuals by name, along with their ages — for example, a man named “Harry” aged 30, a woman named “Nancy” aged 24, and several others. The advertisement also includes other items being auctioned alongside the enslaved people: rice, gram (a type of legume), paddy (unmilled rice), books, and other goods. The credit line at the bottom of the image reads “Hulton Deutsch,” indicating the source of the archival image.
The layout is that of a typical 19th-century broadside or poster: a large, bold headline at the top, followed by a dense block of text listing the items for sale. There are no illustrations, arrows, or panels — it is purely a textual document. The handbill was printed in the United States, likely in a Southern state where slave auctions were legal and common at the time. …