Travel Through This Quiz on Ancient Trade Routes

The Bronze Age, which began around 3300 BCE and lasted until 1200 BCE, was characterized by the smelting of copper and tin to create bronze. The eastern Mediterranean flourished with bronze products, but tin did not occur naturally in the Mediterranean, so ancient civilizations looked elsewhere for it. One of the main sources of tin came from the English Isles, according to recent research.

The Amber Road in northeastern Europe is likely the oldest system of roads on the continent. Etruscan and Greek traders used these ancient trade routes from around 1900 BCE to 300 BCE, bringing amber from the Baltic coast (near modern-day St. Petersburg, Russia) south to Venice, Italy. Amber was a sought-after commodity in the ancient world, and Baltic amber has been found in royal tombs around Europe and northern Africa.

The historic fur trade routes of North America utilized natural highways: rivers. In the early days of the trade, the primary source of transportation was by canoe, but eventually, a type of vessel called York boats were used. Settlers and Indigenous peoples traded furs and many other goods along these waterways, especially on the St. Lawrence River between the modern-day Canadian cities of Montreal and Quebec.

Historically, salt has been one of the most popular trade commodities in the world. The ancient Romans used salt for many things, especially preserving fish and meat. Salt was so valuable that Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt instead of money. The ancient Via Salaria (Latin for “Salt Road”) brought salt from Ostia, a major port city of ancient Rome, to other parts of modern-day Italy.

The perilous journey along the Ancient Tea Horse Road spanned nearly 1,400 miles from the Sichuan Province of China to the capital city of Lhasa in Tibet. Use of the trail lasted for more than one thousand years, beginning in the 10th century. At the time, raw tea was worth more than porcelain or silk, so the three-month journey through dangerous passes and rough terrain proved fruitful.

The Incense Route brought commodities from the modern-day countries of Yemen and Oman in the Arabian Peninsula, north to the Mediterranean. The route was heavily trafficked from the third century BCE until the second century CE. It stretched through harsh desert conditions but allowed for many towns to be established along the way thanks to the profit from frankincense and myrrh.

The ancient Inca Empire stretched along the western coast of South America through the Andes Mountains. Their advanced roadways allowed for trade between settlements, usually via llama caravan. These roads covered 25,000 miles: two primary roads running north to south, one by the coast, and the remaining one through the highlands. Today, the Inca road system is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Trans-Saharan Trade Routes in West Africa linked many African cities and opened the door for trade with ancient eastern cultures. Trade along these routes began around the fifth and sixth centuries and lasted for hundreds of years. Gold, especially from Sudan, was the main commodity of the trade, but other goods like kola nuts were also popular.

Since as early as 2000 BCE, spices like cinnamon and cassia were traded along a set of maritime routes called the Spice Routes. These routes connected southern Asia with Europe, eventually reaching the Mediterranean Sea. The focal point of the Spice Routes was southern Asia, where many exotic spices grew and where the Dutch East India and British East India companies did their trading.

Arguably the most famous trade route in history, the Silk Road allowed for trade between the powerful empires of China and Rome. Silk, one of China’s most precious commodities, was transported to the West via this route; in exchange, wool, gold, silver, and other products traveled east. The 4,000-mile journey across the Silk Road was often treacherous and lined with difficult terrain, especially in the Gobi Desert.