Page 78 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

trading patterns, china seas 1855

probably in imitation of Macedonian coinage, in the third and by the late fifth century the western Roman empire
century BCE.These exchanges were insufficient to prevent had collapsed, disrupting ancient lines of trade and com-
conflict between the Cetic and Mediterranean worlds, munication. While the eastern Roman (or Byzantine)
however. Major Celtic raids in the fourth and third cen- empire continued in existence for another millennium, it
turies BCE saw a Celtic kingdom established in Anatolia, was never again so dominant a military and economic
and Rome itself sacked. It was, nevertheless, the Romans presence.
who brought regularity and security to western and
Bill Leadbetter
southern European trade.
See also Viking Society
The Romans
When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in the first century
BCE, he brought it firmly into the Mediterranean econ- Further Reading
omy.The subsequent conquests of Britain, Illyricum (the Ascherson, N. (1995). Black Sea. London: Jonathan Cape.
Casson, L. (1994). Ships and seafaring in ancient times. London: British
modern Balkan states), and the western part of Germany Museum Press.
brought much of Europe into close economic contact. Curtin, P. (1984). Cross-cultural trade in world history. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
One major feature of Roman rule was the construction
De Souza, P. (1999). Piracy in the Graeco-Roman world. Cambridge, UK:
of roads; another was the suppression of banditry and Cambridge University Press.
piracy. Goods could travel long distances quite freely. Just Dixon, J. E., Cann, J. R., & Renfrew, C. (1968). Obsidian and the origins
of trade. In Hunters, farmers and civilizations: Old World archaeology.
as Athens had been dependent upon imported grain from Readings from Scientific American (pp. 108–116). San Francisco:
the Crimea, the vastly bigger city of Rome received its W.H. Freeman.
Fagan, B. (1990). The journey from Eden:The peopling of our world. Lon-
grain in great freighters that sailed from grain ports in
don: Thames and Hudson.
Africa, Sicily, and Egyptian Alexandria.The Roman net- Finley, M. (1962).The slave trade in antiquity: The Black Sea and Danu-
work of roads and maritime routes made travel around bian regions. Klio 40, 31–59.
Hordern, P. & Purcell, N. (2000). The corrupting sea:A study of Mediter-
and across the Mediterranean and deep into its European ranean history. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
hinterland a relatively straightforward proposition. Lancel, S. (1995). Carthage: A history (A. Nevill, Trans.). Oxford, UK:
Blackwell.
Trading was no longer dependent upon cabotage,
Renfrew, C. (1973). Before civilization: The radiocarbon revolution and
although that was still the most frequent type of trade. prehistoric Europe. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
Rather, a number of mercantile diasporas were estab- Rickman, G.E. (1980). The corn supply of ancient Rome. Oxford, UK:
Clarendon.
lished throughout the Roman world and beyond it: Syr- Wells, P. S. (1995).Trade and exchange. In M. J. Green (Ed.), The Celtic
ians, Jews, and Greeks established subcommunities world (pp. 230–243). London: Routledge.
within great cities like Rome and Alexandria.While this
sometimes led to conflict, it also led to the spread of
ideas. Christianity spread swiftly throughout the Mediter-
ranean world and beyond it because of its strong base in Trading Patterns,
Jewish diaspora communities.
By the second century CE, the European economy was China Seas
highly complex and interconnected. It has been spoken
of as a segment in an increasingly complex world system. or most of its long history, Chinese civilization has
As such, it was subject to economic fluctuations.The long Fturned its back to the sea and has focused inward.
recession of the third century was felt throughout Europe, The Chinese, as a general rule, have not been a seafar-
and it made Rome itself vulnerable to raids from preda- ing people. Only a tiny fraction of the population of
tory foreign peoples, which depressed the domestic econ- China derived their livelihood from maritime activities—
omy even further. The subsequent recovery was partial, fishing, overseas trade, piracy, or naval warfare.Very few