A History of World Trade, Pt. 1

I've been reading this book about world history recently and I started wondering about how world trade began. I mean, did merchants just go sail to some other city, drop anchor and see what was available? How did they do that and not get killed every time?

And once you did eventually gain these prospective trade partners' trust, how did you ever determine the value of what was being traded?

You know, some Greek sailors pull up in Delhi with a boatload of olive oil. How does that work out?

"Hey we got all this oil here, made from olives, you want to trade something for it?"

"What's an olive?" the Indian merchant would rightly ask.

"I think it's some kind of fruit."

"Is it sweet?"

"Oh god no. It's terribly, almost offensively, bitter."

"Well what do you do with the oil?"

"Um, we like to dip our bread in it. Oh or we sometimes rub it on our bodies.

"I see."

I can't imagine this going well for either party, yet somehow it did. Maybe it was the body lubrication angle that eventually sold the world on olive oil, and cooking uses came later. Hopefully not at the same time.

But what could the Indians offer back to the Greeks? Obviously some quick-thinking Delhian was on the scene with a superb counter.

"Hey, you guys got any turmeric over there?"

"What's that?"

"It's a spice. Very popular 'round these parts."

"What's it taste like?"

"Very warming."

"Oh, you know, we kinda just got some ginger in. No thanks."

"Uh...it settles the stomach, very good for digestion."

"That's cool, but we're, like, swimming in fennel back home."

"It turns everything yellow."

"What's that you say?"

"Everything you add it to, turns it completely yellow."

"Give us all you have!"

And with that, the first successful Greek-Indian trade route was born. I'm sure I've glossed over some minor details like quantity and receipt signage, but I can only assume this is pretty much what happened.

Next time we'll explore the dangers of transporting open containers of ghee on a month-long trek across the Indian Ocean.