Intro ~ HISTORY OF SHOPPING
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In ancient times, there was no money. People bartered or traded goods, that they had produced themselves. The first money was used over 2000 years ago.
Fairs and markets were in operation from early times. People would shop for goods at a weekly market in nearby towns. Then shops began to be permanently established. Shops were specialised, e.g. a bakery, a butchery, a grocer. Then supermarkets appeared.
There have been three major phases in the shopping / trading world in the last 100 years. In a way, these link up into a full circle.
1. Customers would be served by the shopkeeper, who would retrieve all the good on their shopping list. Shops would often deliver the goods to the customers' homes.
2. Customers have to select goods, retrieve them off the shelves using self service, and even pack their own goods. Customers deliver their own goods.
3. Customers select goods via the internet. The goods are delivered to their homes as in phase one!
The internet is fast becoming the most important trade route in the world. Over the last 2000 years, the Silk and Spice Routes were the most important trading connection in the world.
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THE SILK AND SPICE ROUTES
Xiling Shi, while strolling in the garden , picked up a white cacoon from the leaf of a mulberry tree which she was passing . She later lucked into dropping the cocoon into a bowl of steaming tea . When retrieving the cocoon found herself unravelling a long white thread and it was in this way according to legend she discovered the secret of silk .
Not only Silk and Spices were exchanged and sold , .but purfumed wood, rare animals, plants, and ivory. These were exchanged for western luxuries like lengths of cotton and woollen cloth , coral, amber, silver and gold. Basic tecnologies like printing , and papermaking were also found along these ancient roads . Ambassadors, craftsmen, entertainers, monks, pilgrims, scolars, and soldiers all journeyed along the Silk roads , spreading knowledge as they went .
Over many centuries the Silk and Spice Routes , two of the greatest trade routes of all time, wound their way through Asia linking its people and Europe in a network of highways, paths, cities, towns and ports. Kingdoms and empires became welthy from the proceeds of rich trade that passed along the routes .
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