ADVENTURER0:

These days, buying and selling seems so easy and convenient - maybe too easy and convenient. We can go online and select whatever we want from anywhere, order it and pay with E money. We need never leave the comfort of our own homes. But it wasn't always this way. Not only was trade not easy, it was dangerous and exciting.

These days, buying and selling seems so easy and convenient - maybe too easy and convenient. We can go online and select whatever we want from anywhere, order it and pay with E money. We need never leave the comfort of our own homes. But it wasn't always this way. Not only was trade not easy, it was dangerous and exciting.
ADVENTURER1:

It opened up the world to unknown civilizations and cultures. Trade must be in our genes because historians believe it has been going on throughout recorded human history. And trade routes first appeared over five thousand years ago when the Sumerians in Mesopotamia traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus valley. The Phoenicians were sea traders who traveled across the Mediterranean and even ventured as far north as Britain looking for tin. Through this trade, the native people learnt how to smelt tin and copper - a procedure whereby the two ores are melted together to form a bronze alloy - thus ushering in the Bronze Age.

It opened up the world to unknown civilizations and cultures. Trade must be in our genes because historians believe it has been going on throughout recorded human history. And trade routes first appeared over five thousand years ago when the Sumerians in Mesopotamia traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus valley. The Phoenicians were sea traders who traveled across the Mediterranean and even ventured as far north as Britain looking for tin. Through this trade, the native people learnt how to smelt tin and copper - a procedure whereby the two ores are melted together to form a bronze alloy - thus ushering in the Bronze Age.
ADVENTURER2:

Around the second century AD the three great civilizations: Roman, Indian and Chinese were connected by commercial and diplomatic exchanges which fostered greater knowledge of each others'' cultures. Using the Silk Road in Parthia, Han Emperor Wu Ti opened trade with Rome, exchanging Chinese silk for goods like Indian cotton and Roman gemstones. The Parthians allowed Western merchants to cross their land and this enabled the Roman-- Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer, Ptolemy to use the information they brought back on the Chinese to construct his map of the world. By exchanging goods and services, civilizations swapped ideas and knowledge. In this way, not only were goods exchanged but also information on how they were made.

Around the second century AD the three great civilizations: Roman, Indian and Chinese were connected by commercial and diplomatic exchanges which fostered greater knowledge of each others' cultures. Using the Silk Road in Parthia, Han Emperor Wu Ti opened trade with Rome, exchanging Chinese silk for goods like Indian cotton and Roman gemstones. The Parthians allowed Western merchants to cross their land and this enabled the Roman- Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer, Ptolemy to use the information they brought back on the Chinese to construct his map of the world. By exchanging goods and services, civilizations swapped ideas and knowledge. In this way, not only were goods exchanged but also information on how they were made.
ADVENTURER3:

The West learnt how to make paper, gun powder and weave silk and the Chinese learnt the art of glass making from the Mediterranean countries. Much later, in the thirteenth century, the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, brought to the West information on the variety of Asian culture, including climate, cuisine, traditions, customs and culture. So, the next time you go to an online store to buy an obscure musical instrument or rare book, remember it wasn't this easy for the ancient traders who risked life and limb, venturing into the unknown to bring strange and exotic treasures from mysterious lands.

The West learnt how to make paper, gun powder and weave silk and the Chinese learnt the art of glass making from the Mediterranean countries. Much later, in the thirteenth century, the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, brought to the West information on the variety of Asian culture, including climate, cuisine, traditions, customs and culture. So, the next time you go to an online store to buy an obscure musical instrument or rare book, remember it wasn't this easy for the ancient traders who risked life and limb, venturing into the unknown to bring strange and exotic treasures from mysterious lands.