1st Edition
Global Trade in the Premodern World Thematic Approaches to Routes, Realms, and Networks
Note on Writing
Edmond Smith
Introduction: A Book of Routes and Realms
Trade in Global History
Scope and Structure
Chapter One: The Origins of Trade
Trade and Human Society
Long-Distance Trade in Prehistoric Eurasia
Case Study: The Incense Road
Case Study: The Amber Trails
Chapter Two: Trade Across the Steppe
Pastoralists, Nomads, and Steppe Society
Forms of Exchange
Chapter Three: Controlling the Steppe Frontier
Strategies for Border Security
Crossing Borders
Chapter Four: Travel and Transport
Measuring and Mapping
Traversing the Land
Traversing the Seas
Chapter Five: Merchants and Networks
Making Trade Work
Routes and Systems
Case Study: The Trans-Saharan Route
Chapter Six: Commodities of the Premodern World
The Premodern Market Stall
Global Commodities in Primary Sources
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Richard L. Smith was Emeritus Professor of History at Ferrum College, Virginia. His teaching and research were driven by wide-ranging interests in trade across Afro-Eurasia, especially in the first millennium CE. Smith’s publications include Premodern Trade in World History (2008) and numerous chapters and articles.
Edmond Smith is Professor of Economic Cultures at the University of Manchester, UK. Their research and teaching explore the cultural and institutional origins of globalization across the second millennium CE. Smith has published numerous articles, chapters, and books, including the prize-winning monograph Merchants (2021).
