Early CE: The world trading system

By the first century CE, there was a worldwide maritime trading route that stretched all the way from Rome, across the Mediterranean to northern Africa, through the Indian Sea to Indonesia and onto China, with India at its center. The commodities shipped over these routes were high in value and low in bulk, including spices, incense, precious metals, textiles, and specialty items such as rhinoceros horn and kingfisher feathers.

            Trade between South Asia and Europe was booming. As John Miksic describes it: “A distant observer of the Earth would have seen humankind on the verge of an explosion of commercial activity. Between the Mediterranean, where the Roman Empire under the Caesars was at its height, and China, stable and prosperous under the Han Dynasty, the kingdoms of South Asia were encouraging foreign traders to come to their shores. Ivory and incense from India were used in Roman palaces The Romans established trading companies with powers and procedures similar to those of the Dutch and British factory systems used in Asia over a thousand years later”

            Three separate trading spheres were operating in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. In the first, Indian and Sri Lankan sailors were traveling to and from Bali, Java and Sumatra across the Bengal Sea. In the second, Indonesian seafarers were trading within the archipelago itself and in the third the Indonesians were striking out to Southeast Asia and back. Great trade emporiums arose in Java and Sumatra, where Indian and Sri Lankan sailors could access all the spices and commodities the Indonesians brought into Southeast Asia. In the second century CE, the first Chinese junks also began following the coast of China into the Gulf of Thailand and down the Malay Peninsula, in what the Chinese called the “Nanhai” trade.

            The resources of the Indonesian archipelago and its central location between China and India made it an important crossroad in international trade. The different regions and islands of Indonesia produced a number of commodities that stimulated internal and external trade. The cycle of monsoons on the Indonesian archipelago’s waters facilitated trade among islands and brought the Indonesian archipelago into an open system of world shipping. The Island of Java became a “nucleus of the Indonesian archipelago” (Sulistiyono  and Rochwulaningsih, 2013).

Adapted from:

Hancock, J. (2021) Chapter 9. Spices, scents and silks: Catalysts of world trade. CABI.

Literature cited:

Miksic, J. (1997) Historical background. In: W.M Mathers and M. Flecker (Eds.). Archaeological report: Archaeological recovery of the Java Sea wreck. Pacific Sea Resources, Annapolis, Maryland.

Sulistiyono, S.T. and Y. Rochwulaningsih (2013) Contest for hegemony: The dynamics of inland and maritime cultures relations in the history of Java island, Indonesia. Journal of Marine and Island Cultures 2, 115–127

Figure. Maritime Spice (blue) and Silk (red) Routes.  WikiMedia Commans

Antiquity: Lady Leizu and the origin of silk

Probably 5,000 years ago in China, someone figured out how to collect and weave the silk threads of the blind, sightless moth called Bombyx mori, a native of China. The ancient Chinese fed their larvae on a diet of the leaves of mulberry trees and learned to plunge their cocoons into boiling water at the appropriate time to ensure the release of the full length of silk strands. They also developed the process called reeling, where long single strands of silk are collected on bobbins.

            Archeological evidence reveals that silk was being produced in China as far back as 2750 BCE, during the realm of Huangdi, the “Yellow Emperor”. Half a silk worm cocoon was unearthed along the Yellow River in Shanxi Province in northern China that was dated between 2600 and 2300 BC, and a group of silk ribbons, threads and fabric fragments of about the same age was found at Qianshanyang in Zhejiang province.

            There are many Chinese, Japanese and Western books that repeat a longstanding tradition that the Yellow Emperors wife, Lady Leizu introduced silkworm rearing and invented the loom. As Kuhn (1984) relates – “The Shih-chi (Record of the Historian) informs us that “Huang-ti [Huangdi] [dwelt on the hillock of Hsien-yüan and married a woman from Hsi-ling whom he made his principal wife.” Regrettably the Shih-chi does not supply its source of reference. The story of lady His-ling [Leizu] is usually told as follows: “The empress, known as the lady of His-ling, wife of the famous emperor, Huang-ti, encouraged the cultivation of the mulberry tree, the rearing of the worms and the reeling of the silk. This empress is said to have devoted herself personally to the care of the silkworms, and she is by the Chinese credited with the invention of the loom. From ancient antiquity she was (regarded as) the First Sericulturalist.”

            Perhaps the most charming legend concerning the Lady Leizu’s discovery of silk, is that she was sitting under the shade of a mulberry tree enjoying a cup of herbal tea, when a silkworm cocoon accidentally dropped into her steaming cup. The angry empress fished the cocoon out of her cup and found that it had started to unwind a thread that appeared almost endless. In an “aha moment”, Lady Leizu deduced that the thread could be used to make a delicate, soft yarn and crafted the whole silk making strategy.

            Ancient Chinese sources such as The Book of History, and The Book of Rites by Confucius give many details about ancient Chinese sericulture. Silk reeling and spinning were a cottage industry of women, while weaving and embroidery were done in targeted workshops as well as in the home. All the women in the household of silk producing provinces spent most of their day, for six months each year, in the feeding and care of silkworms and to the spinning, weaving, dyeing and embroidering of silk. By the fifth century BC, at least six Chinese provinces were producing silk.

            Cartwright (2017) tells us that “weavers were usually women, and it was also their responsibility to make sure the silk worms were well fed on their favorite diet of chopped mulberry leaves and that they were sufficiently warm enough to spin thread for their cocoons. The industry became such a vital source of income for families that land dedicated to the cultivation of mulberry bushes was even made exempt from reforms which otherwise took away agricultural land from peasant ownership and mulberry plots became the only land that it was possible for farmers to claim hereditary ownership of. Mencius, the Confucian philosopher, advocated the smallest of land holdings always set aside a plot to plant mulberry. As demand grew, then the state and those with enough capital to do so set up large workshops where both men and women worked. Great aristocratic houses had their own private silk production team with several hundred workers employed in producing silk for the estate’s needs and for resale.

Adapted from:

Hancock, J. (2021). Chapter 2. Spices, Scents and Silk: Catalysts of Trade. CABI.

Literature cited:

Cartwright, M. (2017) Silk in antiquity. Ancient History Encyclopedia.

Kuhn, D.(1984) Tracing a Chinese legend: In search of the identity of the first sericulturalist. T’oung Pao Second Series, Vol. 70, Livr. 4/5, pp. 213-245.

Figure: Song Dynasty women inspecting a bolt of silk. 12th century CE. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Early Middle Ages: Rome falls and Constantinople rises

During the third century, Rome was in a constant state of flux with a revolving door of 22 emperors taking the throne. The Empire was plagued with conflict on all its frontiers with Germans, Goths and Parthians. In an attempt to restore peace and prosperity, the emperor Diocletian divided power in 284 CE into a tetrarchy (rule of four). Diocletian and Galerius were given rule of the eastern Roman Empire, while Maximian and Constantine were given power in the west.

            The tetrarchy fell apart in 324, when Diocletian and Maximian retired from office and Constantine took over total power and reunified Rome.  To solidify his rule, he moved the Roman capital to Byzantium which he renamed Constantinople. Constantine’s effort at reunification proved fragile for when he died the eastern and western empires again fractured into two pieces. The Western Roman Empire lasted only another 75 years, finally succumbing to waves of Germanic tribe movements called the “Völkerwanderung”.

            The fall of the Eastern Roman Empire led to a dramatic shift in the direction of world trade. When the Visigoths breached the walls of Rome in 410 CE and sacked the city, what had been the center of world trade collapsed after 500 years of domination. No longer were the spices and silks of Southeast Asia being funneled to Europe.  The focal point of international trade would shift east to Constantinople in the remaining half of the Roman Empire. Constantinople replaced Rome as the spice and silk trading center of the world.

            Constantinople also became the new focus of the grain trade with Egypt and North Africa. As Rome struggled to survive and its population plummeted, the massive shipments of grain that once went to the Tiber River in Italy were increasingly redirected to the Bosporus Strait in Northwestern Turkey. This was a monumental shift, as at its peak, the free provision of the “cura annonae”, had filled the bellies of at least 200,000 people a day in Rome, and another 800,000 expected a regular supply of grain at reasonable prices. It has been estimated that at least 150 – 300,000 tons of grain was delivered to Rome each year (Charles and Ryan, 2009).  

            The importance of silk remained paramount in the Eastern Roman Empire as a powerful symbol of the very wealthy and the Orthodox Church. The Byzantine rulers considered silk a precious commodity and restricted its use to the aristocracy and ecclesiastical ceremony. Richly patterned, colorful silks became a powerful, highly-regulated trade commodity, bringing rich custom duties to the royal treasury. Bolts of silken cloth were gifted to foreign ambassadors that visited Constantinople to impress them with the power of the Byzantine Empire.  

            Purple silk was especially revered in the Byzantine Empire and was restricted to the ecclesiastical royals. Byzantine rulers wore flowing purple robes, adorned with precious stones and gold. The reputation of purple came through its rarity, purple dye originated from only one place in the world – the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre in modern day Lebanon. To produce the dye, a purple-producing mucas was harvested from a species of sea snail now known as Bolinus brandaris, and then exposed to sunlight for a precise amount of time. It took as many as 250,000 mollusks to yield just one ounce of usable dye. Tyrian purple was said to carry divine connotations, as it resembled the color of Christ’s clotted blood.

            The Byzantines, rich and poor, also required their food to be richly seasoned with pepper as had been the Roman habit for centuries. Chinese ginger and Indonesian nutmeg also became important in their diets, moving from the ancient Roman’s medicine cabinets to the Byzantine kitchen.As Robin Trento (2014) relates in her blog from the Getty: “The food of medieval Constantinople was truly a fusion. It combined ancient Roman culinary traditions, local Greek and Anatolian practices, the dictates of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the influence of cross-cultural exchange. Constantinople (today Istanbul) was and is a vibrant trading center…… The variety of herbs and vegetables available in Constantinople was far greater than that enjoyed by ancient Greeks and Romans—and they were eaten cooked as well as raw, unheard of in Europe. The Byzantines enjoyed meat (when not fasting per the dictates of the Church), primarily pork, lamb, poultry, and certain types of gazelles and donkeys. They were also avid fish-eaters, taking advantage of the rich waters where the Bosporus joins the Black and Aegean Seas, and they carried on the ancient Roman tradition of seasoning nearly everything with fish sauce, garum, which had long since fallen from favor in Europe.” They used forks and spoons at their meals, unknown in Europe, which were “devised to aid Byzantine nobles in protecting their long, ample sleeves from being soiled.”

            Only the demand for incense fell dramatically in the Roman world of Byzantium. This came when Constantine made Christianity the state religion in 323 CE. The burning of frankincense in religious ceremony was banned in the early Christian church and the practice of cremation after death was replaced with simple burials. The burning of incense was no longer necessary to cover the stench of funeral pyres. However, the demand for silk remained high among the elite in the Byzantine world and the desire for spice actually grew.

Adapted from:

Hancock, J. (2021) Chapter 10. Spices, scents and silk: Catalysts of world trade. CABI

Literature cited:

Charles, M. and Ryan, N. (2013) The Roman Empire and the grain fleets: Contracting out public services in antiquity. https: //apebhconference. files.wordpress.com/2009/09/charles_ryan1.pdf

Trento, R. (2014) What did Byzantine food taste Like? The Iris Behind the scenes at the Getty. http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/what-did-byzantine-food-taste-like/

Figure: Byzantine Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DeliDumrul

Antiquity: The Incense Routes

A great trade route evolved across Arabia to serve the insatiable desire for incense in Egypt and the other ancient societies of Mesopotamia. What came to be called the “Incense Route” wove from southern Arabia along the Red Sea coast and west through the Sinai to trade frankincense and myrrh. These Incense Routes flourished most mightily between the 7^th century BCE and the 2nd century CE, but had roots that went back as far as 1200 BCE.

Great caravans of camels carried frankincense and myrrh from Yemen to the Mediterranean, weaving their way across vast stretches of largely inhospitable terrane. The traders had to travel around towering mountains, find water and shelter in desert infernos and fend off bands of thieves. There was essentially only one trail in southern Arabia that met these necessities.

The caravan leaders were well versed in the overland routes, knowing every oasis, well, shelter, settlement and taxation point. By 500 BCE, the caravans were huge, encompassing 200 camels or more. These large convoys provided mutual security against roaming bandits and protection against the harsh, unforgiving desert. A fully loaded camel could predictably travel at a rate of 2.5 miles an hour, so the caravan leaders could decide where and when the caravan would rest each day.

From Shabwa, the caravans journeyed southwest through the desert to the capital of the Qatabanian Kingdom, Timna. Here exotic goods from India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia could be added to their cargo for transport north. These goods were brought here from the South Arabian ports, principally Aden.  The Greeks referred to Aden as Arabia Emporion, or Arabia’s emporium.

From Timna, the caravans headed northwest to Ma’rib, about 90 miles away in the Kingdom of the Sabians. It could be reached directly through a desert with towering, dry sand dunes, but most merchants probably took the longer route through the mountains between the two cities. The Qatabanian’s had gone to great pains to build special passes through the most difficult points which allowed travelers to pass single file on leveled surfaces. Of course, there were numerous religious shrines and Qatabanian tax collectors along the way.

In Ma’rib, the travelers passed by a massive dam which has been called by many as the engineering marvel of the age. The Ma’rib dam was twice as long as the Hoover Dam built in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River in the 1930s. It must have been a great relief for the travelers to have come to the green oasis surrounding the great Ma’rib dam and it is likely that the travelers lingered there for a few days, purchasing supplies and resting. Next facing them was the Sayhad desert, of which there was no way around. The Roman’s called it Arabia Deserta, (desert Arabia) in comparison to Arabia Felix (happy Arabia) from where they came. They dove deep into the desert until finally arriving at the oasis of Najrn. Here the trail bifurcated with one route heading northeast to the port city of Gerrha on the Persian Gulf, and the other heading direct north to Yathrib,

Gerrha was a thriving metropolis of middlemen who bought aromatics and spices from the South Arabians and sold them goods from all over the known world including multicolored textiles and embroideries from Phoenicia, Persia and Anatolia. Yathrib served not only the caravans but also pilgrims headed to the holy city of Mecca, a few days away. Yathrib achieved fame as the place the Prophet Mohammed sought sanctuary in 622 AD after fleeing persecution in Mecca.

From Yathrib, the merchants had the choice of heading northeast to Mesopotamia (Babylonia or Assyria) along the edge of the great Nafud Desert, or north-west to the Mediterranean. Those merchants heading to the Mediterranean would have continued trudging seven more days to Dedan, the capital of the Lihyanite kingdom, where a thriving colony of Minaean merchants lived 2,000 years ago.

Merchants heading north to the Levant and Anatolia would have then travelled through Petra, the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom. Petra served as an important hub of trade, linking the Red Sea ports of Egypt with southern Arabia, East Africa and the coast of India. It also came to serve as a terminus of the Silk Road reaching all the way to northeastern China..

The last stop on the northern route was Gaza, the main spice trading center of the ancient Graeco-Roman world . This city sat on the southern edge of the Mediterranean, midway between Jerusalem and Alexandria and was the terminus of all the overland trade routes carrying not only incense, but also spices and silk. From Gaza, the trade goods were shipped to Alexandria, which became the most important processing centre for goods destined for the Greek and Roman Empires.

At journey’s end, the incense from southern Arabia had traveled a prodigious distance. Pliny the Elder estimated the distance between Timna, at the start of the incense trail and Gaza, at the northern terminus, was 2,437,500 steps or about 1500 miles. The journey would have taken about 65 days by camel. The incense that found its way to Puteoli through Gaza on its way to Rome traveled another 1,500 miles by sea for a total journey of about 3,000 miles.

Adapted from: Hancock, J. (2021) Chapter 5. Spices, scents and silk: Catalysts of trade. CABI, Wallingford, UK

Picture: Cities along the Incense Route.

Antiquity: Incense Kingdoms and Queen of Sheba

The Arabian Peninsula was first settled between 6,000 to 4,000 BCE by Neolithic farmers originating from the Levant. They brought with them sheep, goats and cattle, as well as the whole crop assemblage domesticated in the Near East. To support their agriculture in the desert climates of Arabia, these farmers learned to be masters of hydraulic engineering, building dams and water routes across the fertile valleys. These production methods proved so successful that they came to support magnificent cities, adorned with temples and royal palaces. When their agriculture was well established and producing dependable harvests, the people turned to the trade of frankincense and myrrh to enrich themselves, establishing the 3,000-mile trading route across the Arabian Peninsula to Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Levant and eventually Greece and Rome.

            Four Kingdoms arose in the deserts of Yemen that came to control the incense trail -Hadhramaut, Saba, Qataban, and Ma’in. Each of these kingdoms spanned an alluvial valley with rich soils and a wadi (Arabic valley) which brought them floodwaters during the monsoons. Tens of thousands of acres of farmland were maintained by these kingdoms. Each had its own language, a unique style of art and architecture, and their own Gods. Agriculture was the bedrock of their societies, but the trade of incense made them wealthy. Trees of frankincense and myrrh were located in only two of these kingdoms, but all had a hand in the early overland trade. These four states of ancient Yemen came to be called in Latin ‘Arabia Felix’, meaning ‘Happy Arabia’.

            Of the four ancient Yemen Kingdoms, Saba (or Sheba in the west) was the first to control the Incense Trail and became fabulously wealthy. Both the Koran and Bible refer to the legendary Queen of Sheba who ruled around 900 BCE. The Koran observes “that the country is ruled by a Queen who has been given everything and she has a magnificent throne.” The First Book of Kings in the Bible talks about her visiting King Solomon “with a very great train with camels that bare spices and very much gold and precious stones.” She apparently was fascinated by this other powerful ruler, wanted to see the splendor of his court firsthand and question him about his religion.  Myths abound about this visit including stories that the Queen had a club foot and a hairy leg that repulsed the King and the two-had a round of lovemaking that produced a son who became a Christian King of Ethiopia.

            When the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon in the 9^th century BCE, – Hadhramaut , Ma’in, and Qataban were all essentially territories in the Sabean Kingdom.  Around 400 BCE, these territories wrestled free of Sheba and gained almost equal control of the incense trade routes. Over the next couple of centuries, the power of these kingdoms shifted back and forth until they were all defeated by an upstart Himyarite Kingdom from the southwestern corner of Arabia in the last century BCE and first century AD. The Ḥimyarite Kingdom dominated the incense trade for the next 500 years, raking in tremendous profits.

Adapted from: Hancock, J. (2021) Chapter 5.  Spices, Silks and Scents: Catalysts of world trade. CABI,    Wallingford, UK.

Picture: The Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon by Tintoretto, around 1555

Antiquity: The Land of Punt

The ancient Egyptian demand for frankincense and myrrh led their Pharaohs to send massive trade expeditions south to a place they called the “Land of Punt”. Huge ships were built and launched down the Nile, disassembled and dragged across the desert to the Red Sea and then sailed to Southern Arabia and Somalia in search of frankincense, myrrh and other exotic riches.

            Many detailed accounts of these missions are recorded in texts, paintings and bas-reliefs dating from 2500 to 1000 BCE. While numerous descriptions of Punt exist, the Egyptians left no maps, and no one knows for sure where they were going. However, they must have been headed southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa, as these are the only places on earth where frankincense and myrrh trees are native.

            The scale of the Egyptian trade missions was simply astonishing. By this time, the Egyptians were building huge wooden ships propelled by wind and rowers. From the reign of King Sahure in the 25^th century BCE, the ‘Palermo stone’ describes the first expedition to Punt, which returned with 80,000 measures of myrrh, along with 23,030 staves of wood and alloys of gold and silver. Other wall inscriptions dating from 2000 and 1500 BCE portray expedition forces of 3,000 and 3,700 men traveling to Punt. One record from the 6^th Dynasty (2345–2181 BCE) describes a single official traveling on 11 different expeditions. An ancient papyrus from the 12^th century BCE records that Rameses III “constructed great transport vessels … loaded with limitless goods from   Egypt. … They reached the land of Punt, unaffected by (any) misfortune, safe and respected.”

            In the temple of Queen Hatshepsut (1480 BCE) there is a breathtaking bas-relief that shows a flotilla of ships departing and returning laden with the treasures of the distant land of Punt. In one panel, it shows five mammoth ships heading out to sea with 30 rowers straining hard on their oars. A pilot looms over them standing on the yard of a square-rigged sail. Fish are illustrated swimming in the waters beneath the ship in such detail that they can be keyed out today. Scenes of Punt are depicted in another panel showing the local chief and his family, palm and myrrh trees, domed huts on stilts and livestock. Another large scene with hieroglyphics portrays sailors “loading the ships very heavily with the marvels of the Land of Punt: with good herbs of God’s Land and heaps of nodules of myrrh, with trees of fresh myrrh, with ebony and pure ivory….” Other trade goods are shown including: gold, wood, eye paint, live animals (baboons, monkeys and hounds), leopard skins and servants. The story ends with scenes of the flotilla heading back out to sea and arriving joyfully back home. A triumphant processional of Egyptians and Puntites is illustrated presenting their bounty to Queen Hatshepsut.

            Travel to Punt via the Red Sea must have been challenging to say the least. The Egyptians first sailed down the Nile from their capital at Thebes to Koptos, the port closest to the Red Sea. This was the easiest part of the journey, with southerly winds propelling the ships. Once landed, the ships were disassembled and transported by donkey caravan across 100 miles of foreboding desert to the Red Sea port of Saww (today Mersa Gawasis). Here the ships were reassembled and then floated for another thousand miles on the Red Sea to Punt. The Red Sea was likely a navigational nightmare for the Egyptians, with its fierce storms, chains of reefs and submerged islands. When the expedition had finally arrived in Punt and their trading was completed, they headed back, repeating the whole arduous journey in reverse with an additional challenge. The prevailing winds on the Nile and Red Sea were northerly, requiring the ships to be propelled by rowing. Thirty straining oarsmen are depicted in the ships of Queen Hatshepsut.

Adapted from: Hancock, J. (2021) Chapter 3.  Spices, Silks and Scents: Catalysts of world trade. CABI, Wallingford, UK.

Picture – Bas-relief at Deir el-Bahari of a flotilla of Queen Hatshepsut’s ships departing and returning from Punt (1480 BCE). https://maritimehistorypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HatschepsutFlottePunt.jpg?x85308