This is a timeline of the history of international trade which chronicles notable events that have affected the trade between various countries. In the era before the rise of the nation state, the term 'international' trade cannot be literally applied, but simply means trade over long distances; the sort of movement in goods which would represent international trade in the modern world.
Chronology of events
Ancient
The domestication of the horse around 4800 BCE allowed for the development of horse riding around 3700 BCE, and long distance travel across the Central Asian steppes. Indus–Mesopotamia trade Records from the 19th century BCE attest to the existence of an Assyrian merchant colony at Kanesh in Cappadocia.Stearns 2001: 37 The domestication of dromedary camels around 2,000 BCE allowed Arabian nomads to control long distance trade in spices and silk from the Far East.Stearns 2001: 41 The Egyptians traded in the Red Sea, importing spices from the "Land of Punt" and from Arabia.Rawlinson 2001: 11–12 The Olmec (c 1200-400 BCE) developed a culture with a polytheistic pantheon, monumental architecture, and artisanal goods which was spread across Mesoamerica partly by long distance trade for obsidian, jade, and luxury feathers. The Chavín (c 900-250 BCE) of the northern coast of Peru and Tiwanaku (c 550-1000 CE) in the Andes were able to build large cities and temples out of stone after growing wealthy from trade networks using llama trains. Trade across the Andes was able to transport maize, llama wool, and coca from the regions they were produced. Indian goods were brought in Arabian vessels to Aden. Cargo was shipped as part of the Indian and Egyptian trade. The "ships of Tarshish", a Syrian fleet equipped at Ezion-Geber, made several trading voyages to the East bringing back gold, silver, ivory and precious stones.
Classical Tiglath-Pileser III attacked Gaza in order to control trade along the Incense Route.Edwards 1969: 330 The Achaemenid Persian Empire (559-330 BCE) incorporated Central Asia into Near Eastern and Indian Ocean trade networks. The Greek Ptolemaic dynasty exploited trading opportunities with India prior to the Roman involvement.Young 2001: 19
The Silk Road was established after the diplomatic travels of the Han dynasty Chinese envoy Zhang Qian to Central Asia in the 2nd Century BCE, with Chinese goods making their way to India, Persia, and the Roman Empire, and vice versa. With the establishment of Roman Egypt, the Romans initiated trade with India.Shaw 2003: 426 The goods from the East African trade were landed at one of the three main Roman ports, Arsing, Berenice, and Moos Hormones, which rose to prominence during the 1st century BCE.O'Leary 2001: 72 Hanger controlled the Incense trade routes across Arabia to the Mediterranean and exercised control over the trading of aromatics to Babylon in the 1st century BCE.Larsen 1983: 56 Additionally, it served as a port of entry for goods shipped from India to the East. Due to its prominent position in the incense trade, Yemen attracted settlers from the Fertile Crescent.Glasse 2001: 59 Pre-Islamic Mecca used the old Incense Route to benefit from the heavy Roman demand for luxury goods.Crone 2004: 10 In Java and Borneo, the introduction of Indian culture created a demand for aromatics. These trading outposts later served the Chinese and Arab markets.Donkin 2003: 59 Following the demise of the incense trade, Yemen took to the export of coffee via the Red Sea port of la-Mocha.Colburn 2002: 14 The Maya had a class of wealthy merchants who traded long distances and between city states, although despite their wealth they were separated from the ruling nobility. Markets convened on specific days of the Maya calendar, and at times traders used cocoa beans as currency. The Ghana Empire (c 300 - 1100 CE) grew rich from the Trans-Saharan trade of gold for salt with Arab and Berber caravans from North Africa.
Medieval
The Sogdian city of Samarkand exported unique foods, the Bactrian city of Balkh spread Buddhism to traders, and the Khwarazmian city of Khwarazm traded for furs from Siberia, while serving as key links in the Silk Road. Guangzhou was China's greatest international seaport during the Tang dynasty (618–907), but its importance was eclipsed by the international seaport of Lanzhou during the Song dynasty (960–1279). At the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the Tang dynasty Chinese capital at Chang'an became a major metropolitan center for foreign trade, travel, and residence. This role would be assumed by Kaifeng and Hangzhou during the Song dynasty. The Baqt was a treaty signed around 652 to regulate trade and travel between the Christian kingdoms of Nubia and Muslim-ruled Egypt, protecting traders from both regions but requiring tribute to be paid by the Nubians to uphold the treaty. The city of Sijilmasa, ruled by the Islamic dynasties of Morocco, and the oasis city of Auodaghost to the south, ruled by nomadic Berber confederacies, served as staging points for the long desert crossings of the Trans-Saharan trade. Copper, cowries, and salt were sent south by camel, while ivory, gold, and slaves were sent north. The Sahelian kingdoms stood between the Trans-Saharan trade with the Maghreb and gold fields to the south. The oasis city of Oualata served as a trading post and customs station for Trans-Saharan caravans, though some North African traders went on to the larger cities of Timbuktu and Gao along the Niger River.
Merchants arriving from India in the port city of Aden paid tribute in the form of musk, camphor, ambergris and sandalwood to Ibn Riyadh, the sultan of Yemen. After the first wave of the Islamic conquests in Persia and Central Asia in the 8th century, the Umayyad Arabs, Tibetans, Tang Chinese, and Western Türks competed for control of the Silk Road in Central Asia. The Abbasids used Alexandria, Tammie, Aden and Sirrah as entry ports to India and China.Donkin 2003: 91–92 Swahili city states like Kilwa, Mombasa, and Mogadishu took part in the Indian Ocean trade, acting as middlemen for trade with the East African interior as well as exporting cowries, ambergris, and animal skins. Islamic caliphates began trading for slave soldiers or mamluks in the 9th century, including Turks and Slavs, in the hopes that these enslaved foreigners would have no choice but to remain loyal. As they rose to command armies, many mamluk slaves gained power and prestige. Indian exports of spices found mention in the works of Ibo Khurdadhbeh (850), AL-Afghani (1150) and Lakisha bin Trimaran (907).Donkin 2003: 92 The Trans-Saharan trade introduced kingdoms in the West African Sahel to Islam. The Hanseatic League secured trading privileges and market rights in England for goods from the League's trading cities in 1157. The kingdoms of the Zimbabwe plateau traded gold for manufactured products, like glass beads, iron goods, and jewelry, from the Middle East and China through middlemen on the Swahili coast. The kingdom of Benin served as a regional center of trade in West Africa as well as with the Portuguese after their arrival, exporting finely made cloth produced by their women as well as trading metal goods, ivory, and slaves. The Mongol conquests in the 13th - 14th centuries created the largest contiguous empire in history, which also facilitated commerce and cultural exchange over vast distances. Marco Polo traded internationally in China Mansa Musa, sultan of the Mali Empire, made a Hajj or pilgrimage in 1324 across the Saharan desert to Mecca, the holy city of Islam, to demonstrate his piety and project his wealth to potential trading partners in North Africa. He brought with him a large retinue, gifts, and so much gold that his spending caused economic inflation in Cairo. Ibn Battuta explored the far corners of the Islamic world from 1325–1354, including traveling with trade caravans to West Africa and following trade winds across the Indian Ocean to China. Zheng He made several voyages across the Indian Ocean and South China Sea from 1405–1433, going as far as the Swahili coast seeking the source of luxury goods which had previously reached Ming China through intermediaries. Pochteca were the merchants of the Aztec Empire (1426–1521) who carried trade goods, tribute, and information about neighbors from beyond the empire's borders. Artisanal products produced in the city of Tenochtitlan served as valuable trade goods, while the city of Tlateloco was home to a large market serving thousands of people a day. The early Portuguese slave trade with Africa traded iron goods, textiles, and horses for hundreds of West African laborers a year destined for the Azores and Iberia. Unlike in the African slave trade they came from, captives were taken far from their homelands and had less legal rights.
Early modern
Due to the Turkish hold on the Levant during the second half of the 15th century, the traditional Spice Route shifted from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.Tarling 1999: 10 India's Bengal Sultanate, later absorbed into Mughal Bengal, a major trading nation in the world, was responsible for 12% of Global industrial output between the 15th and 17th centuries, signaling Proto-industrialization. The kingdom of Kongo was introduced to Christianity by trade with the Portuguese, leading to the conversion of the soon-to-be king Afonso I in 1491. However, despite early friendly relations with the Portuguese, the constant warfare and loss of population from the slave trade to Portuguese Brazil led the kingdom to decline. In 1492 a Spanish expedition commanded by Christopher Columbus arrived in America. Portuguese diplomat Pêro da Covilhã (1460 – after 1526) undertook a mission to explore the trade routes of the Near East and the adjoining regions of Asia and Africa. The exploration commenced from Santana (1487) to Barcelona, Naples, Alexandria, Cairo and ultimately to India. Portuguese explorer and adventurer Vasco da Gama is credited with establishing another sea route from Europe to India by sailing around Africa from 1497-99. The indigenous peoples of the Americas are devastated by infectious diseases from Europe; in response, European colonial powers begin to transport enslaved Africans via the transatlantic slave trade to provide laborers for plantations and mines. This trade, in turn, was destructive to the societies of West Africa where slaves were captured and sold. The transatlantic slave trade transported unprecedented numbers of captive slaves, numbering roughly 12 million people, from Africa to European colonies in the Americas. Conditions in the slave ships were extremely inhumane and many slaves died in their attempted capture and in transit. Slaves were able to start families and established new populations in the Americas, although families could be broken up when family members were sold away. In the 1530s, the Portuguese shipped spices to Hormuz.Donkin 2003: 170 The Spanish empire had to establish coastal patrols and forts in the late 1500s to protect gold and silver transported in trading ships across the Atlantic from foreign pirates. The Manila Galleon was a fleet of Spanish trading ships annually sent across the Pacific between Spanish possessions in Mexico and the Philippines from 1565 - 1815 to trade with China. American silver was traded for Chinese silk and other goods, with some estimates saying that half of the silver of the Americas ended up in Ming China. While Spain tried to monopolize transatlantic trade with its empire in the Americas using the fleet system, smuggling with other countries like the Dutch was extremely common. This weakened economic control by the Spanish crown but at times strengthened local economies in the Americas. Japan introduced a system of foreign trade licenses to prevent smuggling and piracy in 1592. The first Dutch expedition left Amsterdam (April 1595) for South East Asia.Donkin 2003: 169