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Overview

Humans have been trading with each other for thousands of years. As we explored and expanded, so did the trade routes, and nations that controlled them became powerful. History shows us that free trade has led to more rewards than protectionism or isolationism, but it also leads to inequality. We need to refine our current systems in order to improve upon them.

Nowadays, global trade is often taken for granted. For example, the device you’re reading this on probably had parts from all over the world. Apple designs products in America and gets them assembled in China to sell them internationally. Global trade has become a part of everyday life that’s linked to many things we do every day.

While trade has been a part of human society for thousands of years, it wasn’t until after the Industrial Revolution that international trade was made easier and more accessible. Before this time, travel times were longer and technology was not advanced enough to make long distance transportation easy. However, since World War II there’s been an explosion in free trade and many people have benefitted from it. There are both winners and losers when it comes to free trade though, so its future is somewhat uncertain.

Long-distance trade has been around for thousands of years. The desire to speed up long-distance trade led to the discovery of the Americas. Protectionism helped exacerbate the Great Depression.

Big Idea #1: Trade began in Mesopotamia with the advent of agriculture and the materials needed to make simple tools.

You can buy fruit and vegetables from all over the world at your local supermarket. For example, you might see bananas from Peru or apples from New Zealand. You can also buy TVs made in Japan or shirts made in China at a Western appliance store.

Today, we are so accustomed to global trade that it is hard to imagine life without it. But the history of commerce goes back thousands of years. The first major trade routes were formed around the Persian Gulf because there was agriculture and manufacturing in that area.

One of the earliest goods traded was obsidian, a black volcanic rock that is easy to turn into a razor-sharp weapon or tool. It dates back over 12,000 years and has been found in Franchthi Cave in Greece. The only way for it to have ended up there was by having been transported from somewhere else, most likely Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia is often called the cradle of civilization. It’s located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, two waterways that connect to the Persian Gulf.

Mesopotamia was rich in many goods, but it lacked some vital resources. Therefore, Mesopotamians traded their surplus goods for metals, marble and lumber from other regions to make weapons, boats and shelters. This is how the Persian Gulf became a center for trade by 3000 BC.

As civilization spread to Egypt and Greece, new trade routes emerged. Greece imported wheat from Egypt in exchange for the wine it exported.

Big Idea #2: Camels helped revolutionize trade in Asia. Trade was established with the Muslim Arabs and China.

The Pleistocene era was known as the Ice Age, a time when massive glaciers covered much of the earth. It ended 10,000 years ago. However, humans were able to cross over from Siberia to North America during that period because they could travel across ice sheets.

Humans weren’t the only species to use this ice bridge. Horses traveled in the opposite direction, from North America to Asia. These early horses were the evolutionary predecessors of camels and developed a unique ability to preserve water. They became perfect for Arabia’s driest regions because they could carry twice as much weight as donkeys (who were used prior). Not only that, camels are twice as fast when moving over barren desert terrain.