A trade route is a commonly used path of travel for those (e.g. for a small group of merchants and their armed and logistical escort, or for a caravan or a flotilla) who frequently traverse between any major points of barter and commerce.

Which route is considered preferable (or not) for use by a given set of traders in a given historical period depends on a number of background factors, including an overall political and economic situation in areas to be crossed, travellers' mode of transport, their navigation skills and knowledge of geography (and weather patterns), as well as on the actual ease, speed, safety and profitability of such repeatedly taken journeys. Networks of trade routes and shipping routes have existed for many thousands of years in almost all parts of the planet, as they have been established across water (i.e. rivers, lakes, sea coasts, and oceans), land (i.e. trails, roads and canals), and since the early 20th century - air.

Important trade routes

Silk and Spice Routes connected various empires across Europe and Asia, including the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty, around the 1st century. These routes connected a number of trading posts and spanned a large part of the known world. See Silk Road.

Incense Routes connected the Arabian Peninsula to North Africa, Levant and Europe and were largely run by Arabian traders who supplied those regions with frankincense and myrrh.

The Amber Road connected the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, Black Sea and Egypt. The Silk Road could then be reached from the Black Sea for further transporting Baltic amber.

Trans-Saharan trade routes connected West Africa and Mediterranean countries.

See also

• caravanserai
• cargo
• dromography
• historic transport

External links

• Old World Traditional Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project (http://www.ciolek.com/owtrad.html)