Trade route facts for kids

For centuries, the Grand Trunk Road has served as the main artery for travel across Northern India. A scene from the Ambala cantonment during the British Raj.

A trade route is a series of paths or roads that is used for the commercial transport of cargo.

Historically, the period from 1500 BC–1 AD saw the Western Asian, Mediterranean, Chinese and Indian societies develop major networks for trade, such as the silk road. Europe's early trading routes included the amber road, which served as a network for long distance trade. Maritime trade along the spice route became prominent during the Middle Ages; nations tried to control this influential route. During the Middle Ages organizations such as the Hanseatic League, aimed at protecting interests of the merchants and trade, also became increasingly important.

In modern times, commercial activity shifted from the major trade routes of the Old World to newer routes between modern nation states. This activity was sometimes carried out without traditional protection of trade and under international free trade agreements, which allowed commercial goods to cross borders with relaxed restrictions. Innovative transportation of the modern times includes pipeline transport, and the relatively well known trade using rail routes, automobiles and cargo airlines.

Images for kids

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  Map of Central Asia with its trade routes and movements between 128 BC to 150 AD

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  One of the Borobudur ships from the 8th century, they were depictions of large native outrigger trading vessels, possibly of the Sailendra and Srivijaya thalassocracies. Shown with the characteristic tanja sail of Southeast Asian Austronesians.

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  Trading routes used around the 1st century CE centred on the Silk Road.

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  The Via Maris (purple), King's Highway (red), and other ancient Levantine trade routes, c. 1300 BCE.

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  Saharan trade routes circa 1400, with the modern territory of Niger highlighted; Tuareg people, who exercised influence over the Trans Saharan Trade.

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  Austronesian proto-historic and historic maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean

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  Main trading routes of the Hanseatic League.

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  Genoese (red) and Venetian (green) maritime trade routes in the Mediterranean

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  Portuguese India Armadas and trade routes (blue) since Vasco da Gama's 1498 journey and the Spanish Manila-Acapulco galleons trade routes (white) established in 1568

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  Map of the Maritime Silk Road

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  Map of the Arctic region showing the Northeast Passage, the Northern Sea Route within it, and the Northwest Passage.

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  Route of the first American transcontinental railroad from Sacramento, California, to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

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  High-capacity freeway interchange in Los Angeles, California.

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  Canals in the US circa 1825.

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  FedEx DC-10.

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  Route of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

See also

In Spanish: Ruta comercial para niños