Trade routes
How goods moved through history: caravan roads, sea lanes and rivers, each drawn on the atlas in the years it carried trade.
All 66 routes
c. 3000 BCE – 1516 CE · by land
The coastal road from the Nile delta to Damascus ran along northern Sinai and the coastal plain, then crossed the Carmel ridge at Megiddo and passed the Sea of Galilee and Hazor. Armies and caravans between Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia used it for millennia.
grain, linen, timber, wine, olive oil
c. 2600 BCE – 1900 BCE · by sea and river
Ships from Meluhha, the Indus valley, sailed along the Makran coast and into the Gulf, calling at Magan and Dilmun on the way to Sumer. Carnelian beads, ivory, timber and shell went west; copper came from Magan. Sargon of Akkad boasted of these ships tied up at his quay.
carnelian, lapis lazuli, ivory, timber, shell, copper
c. 2480 BCE – 1150 BCE · by land, sea and river
Egyptian royal expeditions crossed from the Nile at Coptos through the Wadi Hammamat to Red Sea harbours such as Mersa Gawasis, then sailed south to Punt, probably in Eritrea or nearby. They brought back incense, myrrh trees, gold, ebony, ivory and live animals from the 25th to the 12th century BCE.
incense, myrrh, gold, ebony, ivory, animal skins, live animals
c. 2000 BCE – 600 CE · by land
Older overland corridor across the grasslands north of the Silk Road, linking the Black Sea steppe with the Altai and Mongolia. Pastoral nomads passed horses, silk, furs and gemstones from group to group; burials at Pazyryk and Noin-Ula held Chinese silk beside goods from the west.
horses, silk, furs, weapons, turquoise, lapis lazuli, nephrite
c. 1950 BCE – 1720 BCE · by land
Merchant houses of Assur sent donkey caravans about 1,000 km to Kanesh in six weeks, carrying tin from the east and Babylonian textiles. They sold them for Anatolian silver and gold and kept some twenty trading posts. Over 22,000 tablets from Kanesh record the trade.
tin, textiles, silver, gold, copper
c. 1200 BCE – 332 BCE · by sea
The Phoenician cities shipped cedar, purple-dyed cloth, glass and wine across the Mediterranean and set up trading posts from Cyprus to Iberia. Silver from Sardinia and Spain and tin from the Atlantic came back east. Tyrian ships passed Gadir to reach Lixus and Mogador.
purple cloth, cedar timber, glassware, wine, silver, tin, copper
c. 1200 BCE – 636 CE · by land
This road ran from Egypt across Sinai to the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, then north along the Transjordan plateau to Damascus and the Euphrates. Edom, Moab and Ammon lived off its traffic; the Nabataeans carried incense on it, and Trajan rebuilt it as the Via Traiana Nova.
frankincense, myrrh, spices
c. 700 BCE – 200 CE · by land and sea
Frankincense and myrrh from Dhofar and Hadramawt went by camel caravan up western Arabia, through Shabwa, Timna, Marib and Najran, to Petra and the port of Gaza. The kingdoms along the way grew rich on tolls; Nabataeans ran the northern end.
frankincense, myrrh, spices, precious stones, textiles, gold
c. 600 BCE – 51 BCE · by land and sea
Tin from Cornwall was taken to the tidal island of Ictis, shipped across to Gaul and then carried overland for about thirty days to the mouth of the Rhône and Massalia. Greek writers from Pytheas to Diodorus describe the trade, which supplied bronze-makers around the Mediterranean.
tin, gold, wine
c. 500 BCE – 330 BCE · by land
Darius I organised an old network into a road of about 2,700 km from Sardis to Susa, with 111 relay stations. Royal couriers covered it in nine days, caravans in about ninety. A branch ran on to Persepolis.
silver, gold, textiles
c. 500 BCE – today · by land
Ancient highway across northern India from the Ganges delta through Pataliputra, Delhi and Lahore to Peshawar and Kabul. It follows the old Uttarapatha, was maintained by the Mauryas, rebuilt with caravanserais by Sher Shah Suri and the Mughals, and remains a main road today.
horses, textiles, grain
c. 500 BCE – 1900 CE · by land and river
Camel caravans crossed the Sahara between North Africa and the Sahel, trading Saharan salt and Mediterranean goods for West African gold; enslaved people were also forced north. Trade peaked from the 8th to the 16th century and shrank after Morocco's invasion of Songhay in 1591.
gold, salt, ivory, copper, textiles, kola nuts, cowrie shells
c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Sea lanes linking southern China with Southeast Asia, India, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, sailed with the monsoon winds. Austronesian ships dominated the eastern half early on and Persian, Arab and Tamil traders the western half; Chinese junks joined from the 10th century.
silk, porcelain, spices, aromatics, textiles, glassware
c. 200 BCE – today · by land
The easternmost Saharan caravan road ran about 1,800 km from Darfur to the Nile at Asyut by a chain of wells and oases. Caravans carried ivory, gold, feathers and gum, and thousands of enslaved people a year were forced along it until the 1890s. Camel herds for Egypt still use it.
ivory, gold, ostrich feathers, gum arabic, camels, natron, textiles, weapons
c. 146 BCE – 1453 CE · by land
Built by the Romans from the 2nd century BCE, this road crossed the Balkans from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic via Lake Ohrid and Thessalonica to Byzantium. It joined the Via Appia across the sea and later carried most of Byzantium's overland trade with western Europe.
silk, textiles, spices, wine
c. 130 BCE – 1453 CE · by land
Overland caravan network that tied Han and Tang China to Central Asia, Iran and the Roman and later Islamic Mediterranean. Goods moved in relays between oasis cities such as Dunhuang, Kashgar, Samarkand and Merv, and the roads also spread Buddhism, other faiths and disease.
silk, horses, porcelain, paper, perfumes, dyes, gold, wine
c. 123 BCE – 439 CE · by sea and river
Rome imported nearly all its grain. Fleets brought wheat from Africa and, after 30 BCE, from Egypt; the slow trip from Alexandria ran via Cyprus, Lycia, south Crete and Sicily to Puteoli or Ostia, and barges took it up the Tiber. Part was handed out free as the grain dole.
wheat, olive oil, wine
c. 100 BCE – 500 CE · by land and river
From about 100 BCE to 500 CE communities across eastern North America passed exotic materials along river routes. Lake Superior copper, Yellowstone obsidian, Gulf Coast shells and Appalachian mica reached the earthwork centres of southern Ohio, where craftsmen worked them into objects buried with the dead.
obsidian, copper, mica, marine shells, shark teeth, grizzly bear teeth, freshwater pearls
c. 30 BCE – 250 CE · by land, sea and river
After Rome annexed Egypt, goods went up the Nile to Coptos, across the desert to the Red Sea ports and then on the monsoon to India. Roman gold, wine and glass paid for pepper, pearls, ivory and cloth at Muziris, Barygaza and Arikamedu; up to 120 ships a year sailed from Myos Hormos.
pepper, pearls, ivory, cotton cloth, silk, gold coin, wine, glass
c. 1 CE – 400 CE · by land
In Roman times amber from the Baltic shore travelled south across what is now Poland, through Moravia to Carnuntum on the Danube and on to Aquileia, where it was worked. Furs, honey and wax went with it; Roman glass and metals went north. Forts guarded the road.
amber, furs, honey, wax, glassware, brass
609 CE – today · by river
Chain of canals and rivers linking the Yangtze delta with northern China, completed under the Sui in 609 and cut straight through to Beijing under the Yuan. It carried tribute grain and much domestic trade until the Yellow River shift of 1855 severed it; southern sections still carry barges.
grain, rice, salt, silk, tea
c. 618 CE – 1949 · by land
Mule-caravan and porter paths through the mountains of Yunnan and Sichuan into Tibet, along which brick tea from Pu'er and Ya'an was exchanged for Tibetan horses. Salt and Sichuan silk also travelled these paths, which met at Chamdo before the road to Lhasa.
tea, horses, salt, silk, brocade
c. 700 CE – 950 CE · by land and sea
Jewish merchants from the Rhône valley shipped slaves, furs, brocade and swords to al-Farama, took them by camel to al-Qulzum on the Red Sea, and sailed via Jeddah to Sind, India and China. They returned with musk, aloes, camphor and cinnamon.
slaves, brocade, furs, swords, musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon
c. 762 CE – 950 CE · by land, sea and river
Another Radhanite itinerary ran by sea to Antioch, overland to the Euphrates, by river to Baghdad and down the Tigris to al-Ubulla. From there ships sailed via Oman to Sind, India and China.
slaves, brocade, furs, swords, musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon
c. 780 CE – 1050 · by land, sea and river
From Ladoga and Novgorod, Rus' traders reached the upper Volga and sailed down it to Volga Bulgaria and the Khazar capital Itil. They crossed the Caspian to Jurjan, and some went on by camel to Baghdad. Furs and slaves went south; silver dirhams and silk came north.
furs, slaves, honey, swords, silver dirhams, silk
c. 800 CE – 1100 · by sea and river
Scandinavian traders crossed the Baltic, rowed up the Neva and Volkhov past Ladoga and Novgorod, hauled their boats over portages to the Dnieper and ran its rapids below Kiev. They then followed the Black Sea coast to Constantinople with furs, wax and honey.
furs, honey, wax, amber, wine, spices, glass, fine fabrics
c. 800 CE – 1815 · by land
The royal highway crossed the Holy Roman Empire from Mainz and Frankfurt through Fulda, Erfurt and Leipzig to Görlitz, Breslau and Kraków. Flemish cloth went east; furs, wax, honey and timber came west; Thuringian woad and Saxon silver joined along the way.
cloth, woad, furs, wax, honey, timber, silver
c. 800 CE – 1525 · by sea
Maya traders paddled large dugout canoes around the Yucatán peninsula, linking Gulf ports such as Xicalango with Cozumel, the Belize cays and the Gulf of Honduras. Salt, cloth, honey, cacao, obsidian, jade and shells moved between coast and inland cities, and the seaborne trade grew after the Classic collapse.
salt, cacao, obsidian, jade, cotton cloth, honey, seashells, quetzal feathers
c. 900 CE – 1500 · by land and sea
Monsoon trade along the East African coast in which Swahili city-states such as Kilwa, Mombasa and Malindi exchanged gold from the Zimbabwe plateau, ivory and timber for Indian cloth, glass beads and Chinese porcelain, with ships sailing on to Aden, Gujarat and the Malabar coast. Enslaved people were carried north along it too.
gold, ivory, timber, cotton cloth, porcelain, glass beads
c. 1150 – 1600 · by land and river
Salt boiled from Lüneburg brine was carted north, over the Elbe at Artlenburg and through Mölln, to Lübeck, which shipped it around the Baltic to cure herring. From 1398 the Stecknitz Canal let barges carry far larger loads on the same journey.
salt, herring, grain, furs, timber
c. 1150 – 1320 · by land, sea and river
Six fairs a year at Lagny, Bar-sur-Aube, Provins and Troyes brought Flemish cloth sellers together with Italian merchants. Mule trains from Genoa crossed the Mont Cenis Pass in over a month; other goods came by sea to Aigues-Mortes and up the Rhône. Bills of exchange were settled there.
woollen cloth, linen, silk, leather, furs, spices
c. 1159 – 1669 · by land, sea and river
German merchant towns led by Lübeck linked the Baltic and the North Sea, with offices at Novgorod, Bergen, Bruges and London. Furs, wax, grain and timber went west, cod came from Bergen, and Flemish and English cloth went east.
furs, wax, timber, grain, herring, stockfish, cloth, salt
c. 1200 – 1500 · by land, sea and river
Late medieval chain that carried cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccas and Banda through Javanese ports and Malacca to Calicut, then by Arab ships up the Red Sea, overland to the Nile and down to Alexandria, where Venetian galleys bought them for Europe. The Cape route of 1498 undercut it.
cloves, nutmeg, mace, pepper, cinnamon, ginger
c. 1266 – 1475 · by sea
After 1261 Genoa won the right to trade in the Black Sea and made Caffa in Crimea the capital of its colonies there. Its ships ran from Genoa via Messina and Chios to Pera, opposite Constantinople, then on to Caffa and Tana at the mouth of the Don.
grain, slaves, furs, silk, spices
c. 1315 – 1533 · by sea
Each year Venice auctioned state galleys to merchant groups for convoys to fixed markets. Fleets went down the Dalmatian coast to Modon, then to Alexandria, Beirut or Constantinople and the Black Sea, bringing back spices, silk and cotton. Another convoy carried them to London and Bruges.
spices, pepper, cotton, silk, incense, silver, woollen cloth
c. 1372 – 1570 · by sea and river
Under the Ming tribute system, ships from Naha carried Japanese silver, swords and lacquer to China and Chinese ceramics and silks to Japan and Southeast Asia, returning with sappanwood, tin and ivory from Siam, Malacca and Sumatra. The trade faded in the late 16th century.
silver, swords, lacquerware, ceramics, brocades, sappanwood, tin, ivory
c. 1400 – 1800 · by sea and river
From the 15th century, Dutch ships sailed through the Sound, paying toll at Elsinore, to load rye and wheat that came down the Vistula to Danzig, plus timber, hemp and tar from Riga. They brought salt and herring back, and Amsterdam became the hub of Europe's grain trade.
grain, timber, hemp, flax, tar, iron, salt, herring
c. 1428 – 1521 · by land
Hereditary guilds of Aztec long-distance merchants, the pochteca, carried tribute cloth and other goods from the Valley of Mexico to ports of trade such as Xicalango on the Gulf and Xoconochco on the Pacific, returning with cacao, jade and feathers. They also served the state as spies.
cacao, quetzal feathers, jade, gold, cotton cloth, obsidian, jaguar pelts
c. 1438 – 1533 · by land
The Inca state tied its empire together with tens of thousands of kilometres of built roads radiating from Cusco: a highland trunk from Quito to what is now Argentina and Chile and a parallel coastal road. Llama caravans and porters moved goods for state redistribution between storehouses and way stations.
maize, cloth, coca leaves, wool, salt, dried meat
c. 1497 – 1800 · by sea
Portugal's royal fleets left Lisbon each spring, swung far out into the South Atlantic to pick up westerly winds for the Cape, and rode the summer monsoon from East Africa to Goa and Cochin. They came home laden with pepper and other spices, and for about a century no other European power sailed this route.
pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, silver, gold, ivory
1525 – 1867 · by sea
Ships from Europe and the Americas forcibly carried an estimated 12.5 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic; about 1.8 million died on the voyage. Textiles, guns and metal goods bought captives on the African coast, and sugar, tobacco and cotton grown by enslaved people went back to Europe.
textiles, guns, gunpowder, metal goods, alcohol, sugar, tobacco, cotton
1543 – 1639 · by sea
Each year a Portuguese carrack sailed from Goa via Malacca to Macau, loaded Chinese silk and went on to Nagasaki to sell it for Japanese silver. The trade also brought firearms and Jesuit missionaries to Japan and ended when the Tokugawa shogunate expelled the Portuguese in 1639.
silk, silver, copper, firearms
c. 1545 – 1740 · by land and sea
Silver from the Potosí mines went by mule over the Andes to Arica, by ship to Callao and on to Panama, then by mule train across the isthmus to Nombre de Dios, later Portobelo, where the treasure fleet loaded it for Spain. European goods went back the same way.
silver, gold, textiles, wine, iron goods
1555 – 1698 · by land, sea and river
After Richard Chancellor reached the White Sea in 1553, English ships sailed round Norway to the Northern Dvina. Goods went upriver to Vologda, overland to Yaroslavl and Moscow, and for a time down the Volga to Astrakhan toward Persia. English wool was traded for Russian furs.
woollen cloth, furs, wax, hemp
1565 – 1815 · by land and sea
Once or twice a year Spanish galleons sailed from Manila to Acapulco, heading north past Japan to catch the westerlies, and came back along about 13°N by way of Guam. American silver bought Chinese silk and porcelain and Asian spices, which mule trains carried on across Mexico to Veracruz.
silk, porcelain, spices, lacquerware, ivory, silver, cochineal, cacao
1566 – 1790 · by sea and river
Spain's convoys sailed each year from Seville, later Cádiz, by the Canaries to Veracruz, Cartagena and Portobelo, then met at Havana to return together through the Florida Strait and the Azores. They carried American silver and gold to Spain, and wine, oil, cloth and tools to the colonies.
silver, gold, cochineal, tobacco, sugar, wine, olive oil, textiles
1581 – 1825 · by land and sea
The English Levant Company traded with the Ottoman Empire through factories at Constantinople, Smyrna and Aleppo, its main hub. Ships took English cloth, tin and American silver picked up at Cádiz, and brought back raw silk, cotton, currants and dyes.
woollen cloth, tin, silver, raw silk, cotton, currants, indigo
c. 1590 – today · by land
Twice a year Tuareg camel caravans go from Timbuktu to the Taoudenni salt mines and from Agadez to the Kawar oases of Fachi and Bilma, trading food and supplies for slabs of rock salt. They are among the last Saharan caravan routes still used, though trucks now carry most of the salt.
rock salt, natron, dates, grain, cloth
1598 – 1882 · by land
The Royal Road of the Interior Land ran about 2,560 km north from Mexico City through the silver towns of Zacatecas, Durango and Chihuahua to El Paso and Santa Fe. Mule and wagon trains carried silver south and supplies north, and New Mexico sent wool, hides and livestock, until railways took over.
silver, textiles, livestock, wool, hides, salt, tools
1601 – 1833 · by sea
English East Indiamen sailed from London round the Cape to the Company's factories at Surat and Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, and from 1699 on to Canton for tea. Homeward ships watered at the Company's island of St Helena. Cotton cloth, silk, saltpetre, indigo and tea filled the holds, much of it bought with silver.
pepper, cotton cloth, silk, indigo, saltpetre, tea, porcelain, silver
1604 – 1635 · by sea and river
Under permits bearing the shogun's red seal, more than 350 Japanese ships sailed from Nagasaki to Southeast Asian ports in the early 17th century. They took silver, copper and swords to Hội An, Manila and Siam, and brought back Chinese silk, sugar and deer hides, until the sakoku edicts ended overseas voyages.
silver, copper, swords, lacquerware, silk, sugar, deer hides, sappanwood
c. 1610 – 1880 · by sea and river
Voyageurs paddled freight canoes from Montreal up the Ottawa River, across the Great Lakes and over a chain of rivers and portages to the Athabasca country, trading goods for furs at inland posts. The Hudson's Bay Company shipped its furs from York Factory through Hudson Strait to London.
beaver pelts, other furs, pemmican, woollen blankets, guns, metal kettles, tobacco
1611 – 1799 · by sea
Dutch Company ships sailed from the roads off Texel to the Cape, a supply station from 1652, then ran east in the Roaring Forties on Hendrik Brouwer's 1611 track before turning north for the Sunda Strait and Batavia. From Batavia, ships went on to the Dutch post at Dejima in Nagasaki for Japanese silver and copper.
pepper, nutmeg, cloves, textiles, porcelain, tea, silver, copper
c. 1697 – 1822 · by land and sea
Royal roads built with enslaved labour from about 1697 linked the gold and diamond mines of Minas Gerais with the ports of Paraty and Rio de Janeiro. They were the only legal routes, so the Crown could tax the gold; mule trains carried minerals to the coast and imported goods inland.
gold, diamonds, textiles, tools, wine, salt
c. 1720 – 1907 · by sea
Each December fleets of praus from Makassar sailed on the north-west monsoon to Arnhem Land (Marege') and the Kimberley (Kayu Jawa) to gather and smoke trepang for Chinese buyers. Crews traded cloth, tobacco and metal tools with Aboriginal people until licence fees ended the voyages in 1907.
trepang, cloth, tobacco, metal tools, rice
c. 1727 – 1905 · by land and river
Overland trade between Qing China and Russia through the border post of Kyakhta, set up by treaty in 1727. Shanxi merchants brought tea from Fujian by river and by camel across the Gobi, and Russian merchants carried furs and cloth to the border and tea back along the Siberian Route to Moscow.
tea, furs, silk, cotton, tobacco, rhubarb, cloth
1757 – 1842 · by sea and river
From 1757 the Qing confined Western trade to Canton, where licensed Cohong merchants sold tea, silk and porcelain, mostly for silver. British private traders came to pay with opium shipped from Calcutta, which China banned; the dispute led to war, and the 1842 Treaty of Nanking ended the system.
tea, silk, porcelain, silver, opium
c. 1785 – 1840 · by sea and river
American and British ships sailed round Cape Horn to the Northwest Coast to buy sea otter pelts from Indigenous traders, provisioned in Hawaii, sold the furs at Canton and came home with tea, silk and porcelain by the Cape of Good Hope. Boston ships led the trade from the 1790s to the 1830s.
sea otter pelts, seal skins, sandalwood, tea, silk, porcelain, cloth
c. 1818 – 1878 · by sea
Founded by New York Quaker merchants in 1817, the Black Ball Line ran packet ships between New York and Liverpool on fixed sailing dates, full or not, the first scheduled service across the Atlantic. For some sixty years its ships carried mail, newspapers, passengers and freight.
mail, newspapers, cotton, textiles
1821 – 1880 · by land
From 1821 traders hauled wagon loads from Missouri across the plains to Santa Fe, by the Mountain Route over Raton Pass or the drier Cimarron Cutoff. Cloth and hardware went west; silver, mules and furs came back. The railway reached Santa Fe in 1880 and ended the trail.
cloth, hardware, manufactured goods, silver, mules, furs, wool
c. 1829 – 1855 · by land
Mule pack trains from New Mexico crossed the canyon country of Colorado and Utah and the Mojave Desert to reach Los Angeles, about 1,100 km. Traders took woven New Mexican blankets west each winter and drove herds of California horses and mules back in spring. Wagon roads replaced it by the mid-1850s.
woollen blankets, serapes, horses, mules
c. 1830 – 1912 · by land and sea
In the 19th century caravans of thousands of porters walked inland from the coast opposite Zanzibar to buy ivory, taking about 90 days to reach Lake Tanganyika. Cloth, beads, wire and guns went inland; ivory and enslaved captives came to the coast. Railways ended the trade by about 1912.
ivory, cotton cloth, glass beads, brass wire, copper wire, firearms, rubber
c. 1850 – 1939 · by sea
Fast sailing ships ran from Britain down the Atlantic and east through the Roaring Forties to Australia, then home past Cape Horn, a full circuit of the globe on the westerly winds. They carried gold, wool and later wheat; until the 1870s tea clippers also raced home from China by way of the Sunda Strait and the Cape.
wool, gold, wheat, tea, silk, mail
1869 – today · by sea and river
Opened in 1869, the canal let ships pass from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea instead of sailing round Africa, cutting about 8,900 km from the voyage between London and the Arabian Sea. It became the main lane for steamers, tankers and container ships between Europe and Asia, though closed in 1956–57 and 1967–1975.
oil, container cargo, manufactured goods, grain, tea, cotton
1914 – today · by sea and river
Since 1914 ships have crossed the isthmus between Colón and Panama City through locks and the artificial Gatun Lake instead of rounding South America. The canal joins the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas and carries grain, fuel and container cargo, much of it between Asia and the Americas.
grain, petroleum products, manufactured goods, container cargo, liquefied natural gas
1932 – today · by sea
A shipping lane along Russia's Arctic coast from the Kara Strait to the Bering Strait, first sailed in a single season in 1932 by the icebreaker Alexander Sibiryakov. Icebreakers escort ships that supply Arctic ports and carry out timber, minerals and liquefied gas; parts of it are free of ice only two months a year.
timber, minerals, fuel, food, liquefied natural gas, container cargo