Eight Trade Routes That Influenced the Course of World History

Trade routes connecting production hubs to marketplaces have existed throughout ancient times. Rare goods, such as salt or spices, which were found only in certain regions, were key drivers of these trade networks. Over time, these roads also enabled the exchange of culture, religion, ideas, and knowledge, not to mention the spread of diseases. Here are a few routes that left an indelible mark on history.

1. The Silk Road

The Silk Road stands as the most renowned ancient trade route, bridging the great civilizations of China and the Roman Empire. Beginning in the 1st century BCE, silk was traded from China to Rome in exchange for wool, silver, and gold. Beyond trade, the Silk Road became a vital conduit for the transmission of knowledge, technological advances, religion, and the arts, with trading hubs like Samarkand in modern Uzbekistan emerging as centers of intellectual exchange.

2. The Spice Routes

Unlike many of the other trade routes on this list, the Spice Routes were maritime pathways that connected the East to the West. Spices like pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg were highly prized in Europe, but before the 15th century, North African and Arab middlemen controlled access to Eastern markets, making these spices rare and expensive. During the 15th to 17th centuries, advancements in navigation technology allowed Europeans to sail farther than ever before. They embarked on voyages to establish direct trade links with Indonesia, China, and Japan. Some historians argue that the spice trade sparked innovations in shipbuilding, propelled colonization, and fostered diplomatic ties between East and West. In fact, Christopher Columbus was driven by the desire to find spices when he set sail in 1492.

The Portuguese, Dutch, and English notably reaped vast profits by dominating the spice trade in modern-day Indonesia, especially the region known as Malaku (also called the Moluccas or Spice Islands), the only source of nutmeg and cloves at the time. This trade prompted wars, colonization, and the accumulation of great wealth, cementing the Spice Routes as one of the most important and influential trade paths in global history.

3. The Incense Route

The Incense Route was established to transport frankincense and myrrh, rare resins found only in the southern Arabian Peninsula (modern-day Yemen and Oman). These substances, derived from tree sap that is sun-dried into nuggets, could be burned as incense or used as perfume, and were also valued in burial practices for embalming. After the domestication of the camel by Arab nomads around 1000 BCE, traders began carrying these precious resins to the Mediterranean, a key commercial center. Frankincense and myrrh became important commodities in ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt. It is said that the Roman Emperor Nero had an entire year's supply of frankincense burned at the funeral of his beloved mistress.

The trade thrived, peaking with 3,000 tons of incense traded annually along the route. Roman historian Pliny the Elder recorded that the journey took 62 days to complete, though the path occasionally shifted due to ambitious settlements that raised taxes on passing caravans. By the 1st century CE, this ancient overland route began to fade as improved ships made sea-based trade routes more appealing.

4. The Amber Road

Trade in amber dates back to around 3000 BCE, with archaeological evidence showing that amber beads from the Baltic Sea region reached as far as Egypt. The Romans, who prized amber for both its decorative and medicinal properties, established the Amber Road, a trade route linking the Baltic states to the rest of Europe.

Amber is found in large quantities beneath the Baltic Sea, formed millions of years ago when the region was covered by forests. After storms, the resin washes ashore and can be collected along the beaches. Many local traders built their businesses by harvesting the amber. During the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Baltic became a key source of revenue for the Teutonic Knights, who were granted control over the amber-producing areas. The knights brutally persecuted their Prussian foes and executed anyone attempting to harvest or sell amber. Today, remnants of the old Amber Road can still be found in Poland, where one of the key trade routes is known as the Amber Highway.

5. The Tea Horse Road

Stretching over 6000 miles, this ancient route runs through the Hengduan Mountains, a key tea-producing region in China, and continues into Tibet and India. The road crosses many rivers, making it one of the most treacherous of all ancient trade routes. The primary goods traded along this route were Chinese tea and Tibetan warhorses, with merchants primarily exchanging tea for horses, and vice versa. Parts of the route were in use as early as 1600 BCE, but large-scale trade along the entire path began around the 7th century CE, reaching its peak during the Song dynasty (960–1279).

Studies indicate that between 960 and 1127, around 20,000 Tibetan warhorses were traded annually along the route in exchange for 8000 tons of tea. However, as sea routes gained prominence, the importance of the Tea Horse Road waned. Despite this, during World War II, the route regained significance when Japanese forces blocked many seaports, making the Tea Horse Road a vital supply line between inland China and India.

6. The Salt Route

Salt has long been a valuable commodity, used for flavoring, preserving food, and as an antiseptic. In ancient times, however, easily accessible salt was rare, making regions rich in the mineral key trading hubs. Routes linking these centers to other settlements were common. One of the most notable was the Roman Via Salaria (Salt Road), which stretched from Ostia near Rome to the Adriatic coast. Salt was so highly valued that it formed part of a Roman soldier’s pay. From the Latin word for salt, sal, we get salary and the expression not worth his salt—the latter because a soldier’s salt allowance was reduced if he did not perform well in his duties.

Another crucial salt trade route across Europe was the Old Salt Road. This route stretched 62 miles from Lüneburg in northern Germany, one of the region's richest sources of salt, to Lübeck on the north German coast. During the Middle Ages, the Old Salt Road became essential for supplying salt to fishing fleets traveling from Germany to Scandinavia; the crews used the salt to preserve their valuable herring catch. A cart transporting salt would take around 20 days to complete the journey, and many towns along the way prospered by taxing the passing wagons.

7. The Trans-Saharan Trade Route

The Trans-Saharan Trade Route, stretching from North Africa to West Africa, was a network of interwoven paths that formed a crisscrossing web of trade across the vast desert. These trade routes began emerging in the 4th century CE. By the 11th century, caravans consisting of over a thousand camels traversed the Sahara, trading gold, salt, cloth, enslaved individuals, and other goods like ostrich feathers and European firearms.

This trade route played a key role in the spread of Islam from the Berbers in North Africa into West Africa, bringing with it Arabic knowledge, education, and language. The Trans-Saharan route also fostered the rise of monetary systems and state formation, as local rulers recognized the strategic value of controlling large areas of land and their tradeable commodities. By the 16th century, however, the rise of European interest in African goods overshadowed the Trans-Saharan routes. As Europeans took control of the transatlantic trade, wealth shifted from the interior to coastal regions, making the perilous desert trade routes less appealing.

8. The Tin Route

From the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the Tin Route was a crucial trade route that supplied early communities with a key component for metalworking. Copper needed to be alloyed with tin to create bronze, an innovation that emerged in the Near East around 2800 BCE, producing a stronger and more durable metal than its predecessors. This technological leap sparked a demand for tin, and due to its scarcity, it became a prized commodity for trade.

One prominent tin route thrived during the 1st millennium BCE. It ran from the tin mines of Cornwall in the far southwest of Britain, across the sea to France, and then southeast through Greece and beyond. Archaeological evidence from the many hillforts that arose along this route, which served as trading hubs, suggests that goods and ideas traveled both ways. These hillforts have yielded exotic items, including coral and gold. While no written records exist from this period, the archaeological findings indicate that technology and art, in addition to tin, were exchanged along this vital trade route between northern Europe and the Mediterranean.