Ancient and Medieval Economy
Chinese coin of the Han Empress Kuo
Then in 331 BC the conquests of Alexander the Great united West Asian culture with Greek culture, and created one trade world from India to Spain. This further increased the amount of trading that was going on. The Hellenistic period was one of great expansion of trade and cities. At the same time, Rome was gradually conquering the Mediterranean and trade was expanding through that means as well. Under the Han Dynasty, Chinese people also began to trade more with their neighbors and as far as Rome.
Gupta coin from India
The establishment of the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire in the first century BC also increased trade, as a trader could go from India all the way to England and cross only one border. Arabian trade routes to India became very important to the Romans, because they were often at war with the Parthians, and later with the Sassanids.
But the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire in the 400's AD was a serious blow to trade. People went back to self-sufficiency in many places, and, as before, this meant a serious drop in their standard of living. In Western Asia, things were not as bad, and trade continued more or less as before, though the continuing war between the Romans and the Sassanids did interfere, and much trade still passed through Mecca and other cities of the Arabian peninsula.
Traders approaching Timbuktu in Mali, Africa
When the Arabs conquered West Asia and the southern Mediterranean in the 600's AD, this caused a tremendous revival of trade and of the economy in general. From India to Spain was once again one empire without borders, for the first time since Alexander. Arab trade with Africa also increased greatly at this time.
Only Europe
was left out of this boom economy. Still by 800 even in Europe
the economy had begun to pick up, and trade started to increase.
Historians disagree as to whether this was because of the Arab
boom, or because of Charlemagne's
empire, or because of something else entirely.
A medieval farmer reaping
In the Middle Ages, there began to be two more or less separate but overlapping trade regions in Europ: the traditional southern one, dominated by the Arabs but also involving Italy, and a northern one, centered on the Baltic Sea and involving trade with England, Scandinavia, Poland and Russia. Cities began to grow again, and gradually self-sufficiency decreased in favor of the beginnings of an urban economy. The rise of the guilds, or associations of craftsmen, helped to move power from the country to the city. Still, even at the very end of the Middle Ages, the great majority of people still lived on small farms and in small villages, out in the country, and got most of their food by growing or herding it themselves, and the rest of their food from hunting, fishing, or gathering wild fruits and plants.
To find out more about the ancient economy, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your local library:
Eyewitness: Money, by Joe Cribb (2000). Not the best in the series, but still a good introduction to exchange systems for kids.
The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture, by Peter Garnsey and Richard Saller (1987). Two experts, but their writing is easy enough for high schoolers.
Rural
Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West, by Georges Duby (reprinted
1998). Translated from French. A path-breaking account of what it was
like to be a medieval peasant, though it can be hard to read.
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