History

After the presence of Homo erectus of the face of earth about 2 million years ago, he started to use tools and began to use fire. The modern man as Homo sapiens began to exist only about 200,000 years ago.  Man was the hunter-gatherer when he would ever settle down, let alone trade with others.  Then, there was Global warming and the glaciers melted down and alternate methods for obtaining food were found.  The major river valleys in the Near East like the Tigris and Nile began to be permanently inhabited and cities developed by about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.  Around 5,000 BCE, cities also sprang up in the Yellow River Basin and the Indus river Basin.  So the first form of trade was between people who formed shepherds and the farmers began, by exchanging milk products for grain and metal. Such interregional trade existed even during 6,000 B. C. in the Near East and in Anatolia.  The products exchanged were stone, metals and timber for agricultural goods.
Beginnings of Trade and development of trade routes

Much cultural exchange happened in antiquity, due to the presence of long distance trade.  Trade routes arose which stayed around for centuries.  The civilization in the banks of the yellow river was the main supplier of silk and spices came from the Indus valley.  The goods were transported across vast distances along the Silk and Spice Route.  Another important trade route was the Incense route, in which the Arabs were the main players.  They bought Myrrh and frankincense (Trade Routes between Europe and Asia during Antiquity. 2009).

The city states of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Assyrians and the Babylonians were the prominent peoples in the near East. Since some of the countries had outgrown the state of providing enough food for their people through agriculture alone, the options before them were limited.  They could either embark or conquests which could bring in tribute or they could trade with their allies.  The city states of Mesopotamia were engaged in trade even before Sargon engaged in warfare (Mc Roberts. 2010). 

Trade In Mesopotamia.
The country was actually barren had little to trade with.  The trade was mainly with the Indus valley civilization.  The main goods were grains, wool and textiles.  The state was the main trading partner with some of the pseudo merchant class. During the reign of King Sargon, the main trade was to obtain honey raisins, resins, spices and bitumen for ship-building.  Stone tablets that recorded exports and imports by the scribes in Mesopotamia have been unearthed in the numerous excavations conducted by experts (Streich. 2010). 

Clay tablets of Kanesha bear witness to the trade between Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Donkey was the main vehicle of transport.  The city of Mari grew wealthy from trade, the money coming from taxes as well as the goods delivered between trading posts (Steele. 2007). Egypt and Mesopotamia traded with Badakshan for the precious stone lapis lazuli.  Later the trade became extended to Meluhha, which was the Indus valley civilization.  The Meluhha was the earliest maritime trading partner of the Sumerians and Akkadians in Mesopotamia (Map of Ancient Trade Routes from Mesopotamia. 2010).

Trade in Assyria
Forced by its population growth, Assyria conducted grand export efforts.  The silk industry of Assyria was well developed.  It has conducted a very lively trade with Egypt.  The use of copper and silver gradually was becoming popular. During the early Bronze Age, the last king in the dynasty of Gilgamesh, the hero king, ruled the city of Kish and Uruk.  Trade was well flourished in this area of modern Iraq and it was mainly with Dilmun on the Arabian Peninsula and Meluhha which was in the Indus valley.  The wealth of the city was immense and the Royal cemeteries of Ur bear witness to this fact.

Trade in Egypt.
The wealthiest city of the ancient world was Egypt. The rest of Near East traded with Egypt even during the days of Old kingdom.  Trade links were hot with the Minoans, the Trojans, the early Greeks, Nubians and the Canaanites. During the second Intermediate Period the main import items for trade were oils, furniture and weaponry.  When the peace treaty with the Hittites was in place, the trade across to Canaan and other countries increased.  The main commodities were wine, beer, grapes, figs and even opium (Streich. 2010). 

Gold and other gifts were sent to other kingdoms.  Manufactured goods and princesses were given as gifts to the Pharaoh in return.  From the forests of Africa came the skins of panther, giraffe tails etc.  Along the tributaries of Nile was the land of Punt, of which the exact location is not known. But it seems to have held a lot of interest for the Pharaohs. The main cargo that the land provided was incense.  Egypt also traded with Lebanon for cedar which was a precious commodity (Steele. 2007). Naqdan era pottery and other artifacts like the Obsidian from Ethiopia and Aegean have been found in Egypt.  Tel Brak Uruk, Susa and Canaan also have evidence to trade with this country.   Narmer the king of Upper Egypt had the pottery made in Egyptian style in Canaan and had it exported to Egypt.  His name was stamped on the pottery so made (Map of Ancient Trade Routes from Mesopotamia. 2010).

Places like Palmyra and Petra in the near East flourished mainly as centers of trade as well as cultural and artistic centers where people with different backgrounds could intermingle.  These routes were communication highways of the world.  Beliefs, artistic styles languages and even social customs were transmitted by people moving from one place to another to conduct business. As a result the Hellenistic styles popularized by Romans have influenced the modern day styles of Gandhara (modern day Pakistan and Northern India) and even modern day France (Gaul) (Trade Routes between Europe and Asia during Antiquity. 2009).