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Between c. 700 and 350 BCE, the Mediterranean formed part of a broad and increasingly interconnected system of maritime and overland exchange linking southern Europe, North Africa, western Asia, the Black Sea, and regions beyond. Phoenician and later Carthaginian merchants connected the Levant and North Africa with Iberia and the Atlantic approaches, while Greek colonization created networks of settlements and trading ports stretching from the western Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Etruscan communities, Persian imperial territories, and numerous local societies participated in these exchanges, while routes through Arabia, northeast Africa, the Eurasian steppe, and across the Sahara connected Mediterranean markets to wider regional economies. Grain, wine, olive oil, metals, timber, textiles, ceramics, horses, slaves, incense, spices, ivory, amber, and prestige goods circulated through overlapping networks rather than through a single unified commercial system.
Trade also acted as an important mechanism of cultural diffusion and political change. The movement of merchants, settlers, craftspeople, and intermediaries carried technologies, artistic styles, religious practices, alphabets, and ideas alongside material goods. Commercial opportunities encouraged colonization and urban growth, while control of ports, straits, resources, and transport corridors contributed to competition among Greek poleis, Phoenician and Carthaginian communities, regional powers, and the Persian Empire.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
Netchev, S. (2026, September 27). Map of the Mediterranean Trade Networks, c. 700–350 BCE: Commerce & Colonization in the Archaic and Classical Ages. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14421/map-of-the-mediterranean-trade-networks-c-700-350/
Chicago Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of the Mediterranean Trade Networks, c. 700–350 BCE: Commerce & Colonization in the Archaic and Classical Ages." World History Encyclopedia, September 27, 2026. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14421/map-of-the-mediterranean-trade-networks-c-700-350/.
MLA Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of the Mediterranean Trade Networks, c. 700–350 BCE: Commerce & Colonization in the Archaic and Classical Ages." World History Encyclopedia, 27 Sep 2026, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14421/map-of-the-mediterranean-trade-networks-c-700-350/.
