Spice Trade: Did you mean...?

Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595 CE) was an Elizabethan mariner, merchant and naval administrator who has the inglorious (if not wholly accurate) record of being England's first slave trader. In the 1560s CE Hawkins trafficked slaves...

Between c. 1100 and 600 BCE, the Phoenician city-states of the Levant, especially Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad, developed one of the ancient...

Saba (also given as Sheba) was a kingdom in southern Arabia (region of modern-day Yemen) which flourished between the 8th century BCE and 275 CE when it was conquered by the neighboring Himyarites. Although these are the most...

Between c. 1400 and 1200 BCE, the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean formed a densely interconnected system of exchange linking the Mycenaean palace states...

Relief from the Igel Column depicting mules pulling a four-wheeled chariot cart laden transporting bales of cloth. The Igel Column is a multi-storey Roman sandstone funerary monument located on the left bank of...

Nagasaki, on the northwest coast of Japan’s Kyushu Island, was an important Portuguese trading base from c. 1571 to 1639, and the most eastern outpost of the Portuguese empire. The Portuguese presence transformed Nagasaki from...

The ancient Mediterranean was a busy place with trading ships sailing in all directions to connect cities and cultures. The Greeks were so keen on the rewards of trade and commerce that they colonized large parts...

A map detailing some of the active maritime trade routes in the Aegean during the Middle and Late Bronze Age.

The Mali Empire (1240-1645) of West Africa was founded by Sundiata Keita (r. 1230-1255) following his victory over the kingdom of Sosso (c. 1180-1235). Sundiata's centralised government, diplomacy and well-trained army permitted a...

At its fullest extent, the Roman Empire stretched from around modern-day Aswan, Egypt at its southernmost point to Great Britain in the north but the influence of the Roman Empire went far beyond even the borders of...