Traders by Sea - THE SILK AND SPICE ROUTES
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The silk routestarted from China, went around the southern tip of India, up the Red Sea, and over land to the Nile and northern Egypt. Merchants used the southern route to carry spices and pearls from Sri Lanka, cotton, spices, precious stones, and drugs from India, and cinnamon and incense from Arabia.
Across deserts and mountains, the camel and horse could hardly be bettered as a way of transport. But there was always room for improvement in the ships that travelled the Spice Routes. The expansion of trade by sea was dependent on the evolution of shipping and navigation. Developments in ship design came in response to challenges to trade further afield. Obsrvations made and information exchanged on these journeys also helped the development in sea transport.
Some of the Spice Routes had been in operation since 2000bce. The Romans had developed them as a rival to the Silk Route for East-West trade. But it was under the Arabs and Omanis from the seventh century onwards that the sea routes really came into their own. The Arabs recognized the advantages that sea transport gave in trading their products, and earning wealth from being the predominant sea-carriers between the East and West.
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