The history of international trade chronicles notable events that have affected the trade between various countries.
In the era before the rise of the nation state, the term 'international' trade cannot be literally applied, but simply means trade over long distances; the sort of movement in goods which would represent international trade in the modern world.
Indian goods are brought in Arabian vessels to Aden.[4]
The "ships of Tarshish," a Tyrian fleet equipped at Ezion Geber, make several trading voyages to the East bringing back gold, silver, ivory and precious stones.[5]
The goods from the East African trade are landed at one of the three main Roman ports, Arsinoe, Berenice or Myos Hormos.[10]
Myos Hormos and Berencie (rose to prominence during the 1st century BCE) appear to have been important ancient trading ports.[11]
Gerrha controls the Incense trade routes across Arabia to the Mediterranean and exercises control over the trading of aromatics to Babylon in the 1st century BC.[12] Additionally, it served as a port of entry for goods shipped from India to the East.[13]
Due to its prominent position in the Incense trade, Yemen attracts settlers from the fertile crescent.[14]
The economy of the Kingdom of Qataban (light blue) was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.
Pre-Islamic Meccans use the old Incense Route to benefit from the heavy Roman demand for luxury goods.[15]
In Java and Borneo, the introduction of Indian culture creats a demand for aromatics. These trading outposts later serve the Chinese and Arab markets.[16]
Following the demise of the incense trade Yemen takes to the export of Coffee via the Red Sea port of al-Mocha.[17]
At the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the Tang Dynasty Chinese capital at Chang'an becomes a major metropolitan center for foreign trade, travel, and residence. This role would be assumed by Kaifeng and Hangzhou during the Song Dynasty.
Guangzhou was China's greatest international seaport during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), but its importance was eclipsed by the international seaport of Quanzhou during the Song Dynasty (960–1279).
Indian exports of spices find mention in the works of Ibn Khurdadhbeh (850), al-Ghafiqi (1150), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi (fourteenth century).[20]
The Hanseatic League secures trading privileges and market rights in England for goods from the League's trading cities in 1157.
Modern
Early modern
This figure illustrates the path of Vasco da Gama heading for the first time to India (black) as well as the trips of Pêro da Covilhã (orange) and Afonso de Paiva (blue). The path common to both is the green line.
Portuguese diplomat Pero da Covilha (1460 ? after 1526) undertakes a mission to explore the trade routes of the Near East and the adjoining regions of Asia and Africa. The exploration commenced from Santarem (1487) to Barcelona, Naples, Alexandria, Cairo and ultimately to India.
Portuguese explorer and adventurer Vasco da Gama is credited with establishing another sea route from Europe to India.
In the 1530s, the Portuguese ship spices to Hormuz.[22]
Japan introduced a system of foreign trade licenses to prevent smuggling and piracy in 1592.
The first English outpost in the East Indies is established in Sumatra in 1685.
The seventeenth century saw military disturbances around the Ottawa river trade route.[25] During the late eighteenth century, the French built military forts at strategic locations along the main trade routes of Canada.[26] These forts checked the British advances, served as trading posts which included the Native Americans in fur trade and acted as communications posts.[27]
In 1799, The Dutch East India company, formerly the world's largest company goes bankrupt, partly due to the rise of competitive free trade.
The Japanese Meiji Restoration (1868)leads the way to Japan opening its borders and quickly industrializing through free trade. Under bilateral treaties restraint of trade imports to Japan were forbidden.
In 1873, the Wiener Börse slump signals the start of the continental Long Depression, during which support for protectionism grows.
Post war
In 1946. the Bretton Woods system goes into effect; it had been planned since 1944 as an international economic structure to prevent further depressions and wars. It included institutions and rules intended to prevent national trade barriers being erected, as the lack of free trade was considered by many to have been a principal cause of the war.
The Zangger Committee is formed in 1971 to advise on the interpretation of nuclear goods in relation to international trade and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was created in 1974 to moderate international trade in nuclear related goods, after the explosion of a nuclear device by a non-nuclear weapon State.
Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Morton, Scott and Charlton Lewis (2005). China: Its History and Culture: Fourth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Krugman, Paul., 1996Pop Internationalism. Cambridge: MIT Press,
Mill, John Stuart., 1844Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy
Mill, John Stuart., 1848Principles of Political Economy with some of their Applications to Social Philosophy (Full text)
Smith, A. 1776, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Dictionary of Traded Goods and Commodities: a dictionary of trade in Britain, 1550-1820. Part of British History Online, by permission of the University of Wolverhampton.
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