Difference Between Intercontinental And Interregional Trade

Exam 3 - Topic One Intercontinental and interregional trade has proven to be paramount to pre-modern society, as well as extremely important to civilizations throughout history. Some historic civilizations actually needed trade to survive and thrive, a good example of this is the Roman empire in Europe, who survived by constantly expanding and inter-regional trading within the empire. Another example being the Niumi in West Africa, whom grew absolutely dependent on trade with European countries. A civilization that thrived on trades, and in turn helped other countries thrive, was the Chinese and the Silk Road. Similarly, though on a smaller scale, The Persian Royal Road was used for trade on a limited basis, and helped to expand Persian trade …show more content…
Trade can economically intertangle two countries together, even from across the ocean, or the continent. One good example of this could be the Niumi in West Africa, who traded extensively with European countries for food, and eventually began to rely on trade with other continents and regions to survive and thrive. Horses, which weren’t raised in high amounts in Niumi due to the tsetse flies and the sleeping sickness they carried, the tsetse flies would infect the horses and kill them. Therefore, Niumi started trading, and one of their trade deals involved gaining horses, with allowed them to create a strong military with cavalry. This was possible because of interregional trade. Another example of economic flourishment because of trade is the Roman Empire. As previously stated, they practically survived on trade, and as a result, trade became extremely important to the economy, and caused the Roman economy to absolutely flourish. …show more content…
The silk road for example, was very important socially and even religiously, as it helped spread the culture and religions of Africa via the Trans-Saharan trade routes that connected to the silk road, to all of Asia, most notably China. Similarly, India used the silk road system to conduct trade, which eventually lead to the spread of religion as well. The silk road wasn’t the only important trade route though: as mentioned before, the Trans-Saharan trade route was important as well, as it was an important regional trade that spread salt, gold, and slaves from various locations in the Saharan Africa. Even the Niumi experienced a social change because of their trading with the Europeans, with architectural changes in the buildings. Therefore, socially, trade is extremely important everywhere in the world, whether it is interregional trade, intercontinental trade, or trade within an empire.