A trade route is the sequence of pathways and stopping places used for the commercial transport of cargo. Cargo is a term used to denotes goods or produce being transported generally for commercial gain, usually on a ship, plane, train or lorry. ...

Which route is considered preferable (or not) for use by groups of merchants and their armed and logistical escort, depends on a number of background factors, including an overall political and economic situation in areas to be crossed, travellers' mode of transport, their navigation skills and knowledge of geography (and weather patterns), as well as on the actual ease, speed, safety and profitability of such journeys. Logistics is the art and science of managing and controlling the flow of goods, energy and information. ...

Colin Renfrew and his colleagues first demonstrated that finds of obsidian, a black volcanic glass useful for sharp cutting edges before the Bronze Age, provided a uniquely sensitive indicator of Neolithic trade routes, because the trace-elements in obsidian are usually diagnostic of individual sources [1]. Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (born 25 July 1937), English archaeologist, notable for his work on the radiocarbon revolution, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, and the prevention of looting of archaeological sites. ... Top stone is obsidian, below that is pumice and in lower right hand is rhyolite (light color) Obsidian is a type of naturally occurring glass, produced from volcanoes when the right kind of lava cools rapidly, e. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

The first documented long-distance networks of caravan routes and shipping routes have been established approximately 4,000 BCE between the early-urban settlements in lowland Mesopotamia (southern Iraq). The shipping routes through the Persian Gulf found their major depot in the island of Dilmun. By the time of the early Roman Empire, sea-routes through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea can be traced in detail through several examples of the point-by-point coastal description called a periplus. A wide variety of systems of interconnected components are called networks. ... Caravans comprise land-based trading convoys, often utilising the camel as a beast of burden, and generally associated with crossing deserts in Asia or Africa. ... Shipping is the transport of cargo between seaports by ships, typically large steel vessels powered by diesel engines or steam turbine plants. ... Mesopotamia [mesuputāmēu] (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) is associated with ancient sites on the islands of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. ... A periplus in the ancient navigation of Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans is a manuscript document that lists in order the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate distances between, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. ...

Important trade routes

• The Silk Road is the main route from the Iranian plateau to Western China, leading from oasis to oasis, and skirting the deserts of Central Asia, which was in usde long before it was officially sanctioned.

• The Persian Royal Road was established by Persian kings, who set up way stations or caravanserai along the ancient Silk Road route across the Iranian plateau.

• Silk and Spice Routes connected various empires across Europe and Asia, including the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty, around the 1st century. These routes connected a number of trading posts and spanned a large part of the known world. See Silk Road.

• Incense Routes connected the Arabian Peninsula to North Africa, Levant and Europe and were largely run by Arabian traders who supplied those regions with frankincense and myrrh from Oman and the Hadhramaut.

• The Amber Road connected the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, Black Sea and Egypt. The Silk Road could then be reached from the Black Sea for further transporting Baltic amber.

• Trans-Saharan trade routes connected West Africa and Mediterranean countries.

• The route of the annual Manila Galleon linking Manila with Acapulco was the most important trans-Pacific trade route in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sÄ« chóu zhÄ« lù, Persian راه ابریشم Râh-e Abrisham) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Changan (todays Xian), China, with Antioch, Syria, as well as other points. ... The Royal Road was an ancient highway built by the Persian king Darius I in the 5th Century BCE. Darius built the road to facilitate rapid communication throughout his very large empire from Susa to Sardis. ... A caravanserai (also spelt caravansarai, caravansary) or khan (the usual term in Arab countries) was a roadside inn where caravans could rest and recover from the days journey. ... World map showing location of Europe When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... World map showing location of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, defined by subtracting Europe from Eurasia. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus). ... Han commanderies and kingdoms AD 2. ... (1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century - other centuries) The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 100. ... A trading post is a place where trading of goods takes place. ... The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sÄ« chóu zhÄ« lù, Persian راه ابریشم Râh-e Abrisham) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Changan (todays Xian), China, with Antioch, Syria, as well as other points. ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a mainly desert peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia and an important part of the greater Middle East. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Azores and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa, though they do not share a common culture with the countries listed above. ... The Levant or Sham (Arabic root word related to the term Semite) is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ... Frankincense is an aromatic resin obtained from the tree Boswellia thurifera or . ... Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the Commiphora myrrha tree, indigenous to Somalia. ... Hadhramaut, (also Hadramawt) a governorate of Yemen, is a coastal region of the south Arabian peninsula on the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen to the Dhofar region of Oman. ... The Amber Road (in Lithuanian: Gintaro kelias; Polish: Szlak Bursztynowy, Jantarowy Szlak; in German: Bernsteinstraße; in Russian: Янтарный путь) was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainlands of Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and the Danish islands. ... Length 1,047 km Elevation of the source 1,106 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 192,000 km² Origin  Barania Góra, Beskidy Mouth  GdaÅ„sk Bay, Baltic Sea Basin countries Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia The Vistula (Polish: WisÅ‚a) is the longest river in Poland. ... Length 2,290 km Elevation of the source - m Average discharge 1670 m³/s Area watershed 516,300 km² Origin Russia Mouth Black Sea Basin countries Russia, Belarus, Ukraine The Dnieper River (Russian: Днепр/Dnepr; Belarusian: Дняпро/Dnyapro; Ukrainian: Дніпро/Dnipro) is a river (2,290 km length) which flows from Russia through... Map of the Black Sea. ... This is about the material called amber. ... Djenné, founded in 800, an important trading base, now a World Heritage Site Trans-Saharan trade, between Mediterranean countries and West Africa, was an important trade route from the eighth century until the late sixteenth century. ... West Africa is the region of western Africa that, most strictly speaking, includes the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte dIvoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... The Manila Galleons were Spanish galleons (a type of ship) that travelled once or twice per year between Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco in New Spain (now Mexico). ... REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES City of Manila Region: National Capital Region Province: — Dates: Founded—June 24, 1571 Cityhood—___ Population: 2000 census—1,581,082 Density—41,014 per km² Area: 38. ... Acapulco Bay Acapulco (formally: Acapulco de Juárez) is a city and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 km (190 miles) SSW of Mexico City, at 16°85′ N 99°92′ W. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay, almost...

See also

• Caravanserai
• Dromography
• Historic transport
• Piracy

A caravanserai (also spelt caravansarai, caravansary) or khan (the usual term in Arab countries) was a roadside inn where caravans could rest and recover from the days journey. ... Dromography (Gr. ... Contents // Categories: Transportation | Stub ... This article is about sea pirates. ...

References

• Pelham, Reginald A. "Trade Route." Chambers's Encyclopaedia (New Revised Edition), vol 13: 735-739, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1966.
• Stone, Norman. ed. 'The Times' Atlas of World History. Third edition. London: Times Books Ltd., 1989.

External links

• Ciolek, T. Matthew. Old World Traditional Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online, 1999-present.
• Sherratt, Andrew. Trade Routes: The Growth of Global Trade. ArchAtlas, Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 2003.

• "The obsidian trade in the Near East, 14,000 to 6500 BC"