HST 197 Chapter 29: Long Distance Travel and Trade
Document Summary
Travelers went on long distances trips for many reasons. Nomadic people ranged widely in migrations and campaigns of conquests. Slaves traveled involuntarily to the mediterranean basin, southwest asia, india and southern china. Buddhists, muslims and christians went on long expeditions to visit holy lands. Trade, diplomacy and missionary activity were also motives for long distance travel. Luxury goods of high value such as silk textiles and precious stones traveled on the silk roads used since classical times. Bulk commodities such as stone, coral and steel traveled the sea lanes. Silk roads linked eurasian landmass and trans-saharan caravan routes. The combination of land and sea routes reached almost every corner of the eastern hemisphere. Major trading cities and ports grew rapidly. Timbuktu, hangzhou, cairo, cafe, melaka, kilwa, constantinople, cambay and many other cities had huge quarters for foreign merchants. Trading or port cities enjoyed a strategic location, maintained order and resisted temptation to levy excise custom fees.
