Much of later Indian history focuses on the spread of
Aryan nomads and their Vedic culture southward through
India. Th ese nomads were a warrior people who put great
store in military honor and the conquest of rival nations, yet
much of southern India developed nations because of trade,
not war. Th e peoples of southern India conducted a lively
trade with each other before, during, and aft er the rise and
fall of the Maurya Empire of about 321–185 b.c.e. and the
Gupta Empire of 320–499 c.e.
Th e Indians of the interior formed caravans of wagons
carrying goods not only produced in their own regions but
also imported from other lands, thus bearing Chinese silks
westward and Roman pottery eastward. Th e wagons trans-
ported muslin, saff ron, ivory, agate, diamonds, pearls, eb-
ony, and teak across roads to seaports. Governments arose
to regulate the trade and maintain the roads. Leaders called
Shatavahanas, whom historians consider somewhat mysteri-
ous fi gures, arose to foster trade and lead disparate peoples
who organized themselves into trading nations.
India became a great generator of wealth for the Old
World, trading with Africa, Rome, Persia, China, southeast-
ern Asia, and the Indonesian islands. Th ey established trad-
ing centers on the Malaysian peninsula, bringing their culture
with them. In Indochina, the kingdom of Funan emerged as
a trading nation that may have been similar to those of India.
According to Chinese records, Funan was cofounded by an
Indian trader.
Along India’s western and eastern coasts arose trading
cities. Th e ancient Romans sailed through the Indian Ocean
to establish trading centers on the western coast, and these
centers thrived for hundreds of years. In about 170 c.e. the
Roman Empire suff ered a recession so severe that Indians
suff ered economically and the Shatavahanas withdrew their
trade from the west coast. To the east trade continued to
thrive, with Indians opening trade with the regions of pres-
ent-day Th ailand and Burma, overland and by sea.
Sri Lanka, a large island in Mare Erythraeum (the pres-
ent-day Indian Ocean) off the southeastern tip of India, was
a way station for explorers, travels, and traders from Europe,
Africa, the Near East, India, Malaysia, Indochina, Sumatra,
Java, and China. From the 200s b.c.e. to the 1200s c.e. Sri
Lanka was ruled by the Sinhalese kingdom.
Th e Sinhalese kingdom became rich from charging fees
to the traders whose ships stopped in its ports. Government
offi cials managed port facilities and docks effi ciently. Ports
teemed with trading fl eets from Rome, Axum, Arabia, Persia,
India, and Malaysia. Th e docks and city streets were a col-
orful mix of the national garb of dozens of diff erent lands.
Th e visitors mixed with pious monks and local people sell-
ing their wares. Especially popular were the bountiful agri-
cultural products of Sri Lanka, such as coconuts, bananas,
mangos, passion fruit, papayas, oranges, and tamarinds. Th e
exotic fl avors of those fruits would have been welcomed by
travelers aft er weeks at sea. In addition to fruits, the Sinhalese
sold rice, sugarcane, and cotton. Th anks to an irrigation sys-
tem of 200 miles of canals, they had three harvests of rice per
year. Th e Sinhalese were skilled water engineers who could
build irrigation canals with only 6-inch rises per mile, and
they knew the world was spherical and off ered expert naviga-
tion skills to trading vessels.
EUROPE
BY FRANCESCO MENOTTI
Trade and exchange systems of the past have always been an
important focus of research in archaeology. Studying trade
and exchange can be diffi cult, however, especially within pre-
literate societies. In fact, scholars have available only what
those societies left behind and time has preserved, such as
archaeological artifacts. But useful information can be ex-
trapolated from those seemingly useless remains. For in-
stance, the materials from which artifacts are made can play a
crucial role in identifying the movement of goods and recon-
structing ancient exchange networks. Numerous methods
of analysis have been developed to recognize and determine
the origins of specifi c materials (stones, shells, metals, and so
on) and to reconstruct production and distribution as well
as the exchange system organization. Such analysis focuses
on the various mechanisms of distribution that character-
ized ancient trade networks, from direct access to goods to
down-the-line trade and eventually to a fully developed port
of trade.
Beyond the simple economic value of traded goods, the
meaning of exchange systems is also important. For example,
in some instances symbolic elements might be predominant
over other, more logical aspects. Circulation of ideas and
communication of information imbedded in people’s social
behavior are therefore vital in understanding social contacts.
To understand trade and exchange systems in prehistoric Eu-
rope, fi rst it is necessary to divide the geographical area into
conventional archaeological periods: Mesolithic (ca. 8000–
4000 b.c.e.), Neolithic (ca. 7000–ca. 2000 b.c.e.), Bronze Age
(ca. 2800–ca. 700 b.c.e.), Iron Age (ca. 1000–ca. 500 b.c.e.),
and Roman times (ca. 400 b.c.e.–476 c.e.). Note that the dates
provided apply to only the European continent as a whole and
vary according to latitude and longitude.
Although it is fl imsy and localized, evidence of trade and
exchange in Europe does exist from the Mesolithic. Th e Me-
solithic is an important transitional period in Europe, during
which hunter-gatherer communities underwent signifi cant
changes in technology, economy, and social organization. Th e
constantly changing environment triggered a steady develop-
ment in tool technology, passing from bone and antler tools
and the microlith (blade) industry common in the early Me-
solithic to the various kinds of axes (fi rst unpolished and then
polished) in the later part of the period. In fact, the scarce
availability of primary sources of raw materials in some areas
was the primary factor initiating mobility, social interaction,
and exchange systems. Despite evidence of material circula-
tion on vast territories (obsidian in southeastern Europe and
trade and exchange: Europe 1101
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