Trade

The First Boats

Sail Trade 7 Min Read

The design of the earliest boats is open to debate. They could have been dugout canoes, bark canoes, or animal skin boats. Dugouts were made from a single log. A large hollow area was burned and carved out of a tree trunk permitting a passenger to be seated. Planks added to the sides to keep out water may have been…

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China Trade 22 Min Read

Trade between Middle East Countries and China before 1500

A map showing the route and destinations of the seven voyages of Zheng He between 1405 and 1433 CE, acting as an ambassador and explorer of the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 CE). Some products were traded over very long distances indeed. In the thirteenth century date honey was…

India Trade Wars 33 Min Read

Portuguese in the Indian Ocean

Under Malik Ayaz’s stewardship Diu at 1500 had risen to be one of the great ports in India. About one half of his income came from the port. This wealth and Diu’s strategic location enabled the Malik to acquire a considerable degree of independence from his overlord, the sultan of…

British Trade 20 Min Read

Honourable East India Company Mutinies

The East Indiaman Repulse (1820) in the East India Dock Basin. During the latter half of the eighteenth century and up to its loss of the monopoly of trade between Britain and the East in 1813, Britain’s greatest private merchant-owners were the Honourable East India Company. Mortality was a greater…

Piracy Spain Trade 6 Min Read

The Manila Galleons

The replica of the Galeon Andalucia visits the Philippines in celebration of the Dia del Galeon Festival, a commemoration of the 16th century galleon trade. Video by Yahoo! Southeast Asia sports producer Izah Morales. Photos by Voltaire Domingo/NPPA Images. Pacific Routes-Manila Galleons They sighted Cape San Lucas on 2 November…

Soviet Strategy Trade 22 Min Read

Lend-Lease to the USSR

American Lend-Lease supplies to the USSR 1941–45. Soviet historiography is mocked in the West, where it is seen purely as a propaganda exercise. By way of example, take Lend-Lease. Soviet texts downplay its importance, if they mention it at all. English-language histories credit it with saving the Soviet Union from…

History Merchant Ottoman Trade 27 Min Read

THIEVING OTTOMANS AND FRANKS

Portuguese outpost, Aden, 16th century. Historical artwork of the Portuguese trading post in Aden, Yemen. Portuguese trading posts were founded across Asia during the 16th century after the 1497-9 voyage by Vasco da Gama that opened the way for European maritime commerce. This artwork is from ‘Lendas da India’ (Legends…

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Lend-Lease to the USSR

American Lend-Lease supplies to the USSR 1941–45. Soviet historiography is mocked in the West, where…

The Roman grain trade

Roman Merchant Ships The grain trade was not simply a source of profit for Rome’s…

London: The Romans and Early Saxons I

At the end of the last Ice Age the world warmed and the glaciers melted.…

London: The Romans and Early Saxons II

Roman ships When Julius Caesar’s fleet took part in a battle against the ships of…