Ancient trade. Catalhöyük and Neolithic trade — Trade in ancient Egypt — Greek and Phoenician trade — Trade in the ancient Near East — Petra and the frankinscence route — Roman trade — The periplus and Rome’s eastern trade — Trade in late antiquity — The amber road — Medieval trade. Charlemagne and Carolingian trade — Trade in the Islamic world — Europe and the world in 1300 — The Trans-Saharan gold trade — The Silk Road — Marco Polo and the Silk Road — The rise of the maritime republics — The Venetian trading empire — Bruges and the cloth trade — Plagues and pandemics — The voyages of Zheng He — Trade in the age of discovery. The joining of the world — The Portuguese trading empire in Africa — Circumnavigating the globe — Ottoman trade in the 16th century — Aztec trade — The silver trade — Pirates and privateers — Newfoundland and the cod trade — The Dutch and Manhattan — The Hudson’s Bay Company and the fur trade — Trade and the birth of the United States — South America and the Spanish — The Portuguese and the spice trade — The Dutch East India Company — The Portuguese and the Japan trade — Portugal’s China trade — Sweden, Russia and North European trade in the 16th century — Trade, revolution and empire (c. 1700-1900). The British in India — The slave trade — The sugar trade — The cotton trade — The coffee trade — The China tea trade and the clippers — The age of steam — World cities — Imperialism and trade — The Erie Canal — The Suez Canal — The Panama Canal — The US Transcontinental Railroad — The Trans-Siberian Railway — The Cape to Cairo Railway — The wool trade — Refrigeration and the meat trade — The coal trade — Trade in the Industrial Age (1900-present). The second industrial revolution — A smaller world — Tariffs and trade — The oil trade — Electronics and the internet — Banking and finance — Tourism and trade — Trade blocs — Threats to world trade.
