Roman+Trade

ROMAN TRADE Trade contributed a lot to the rise of roman civilization. The Romans traded many goods during their empires time of peace. The Roman traders traded with many other countries and most of what they traded was luxury goods. Even though they had unequaled empire they still needed to trade with other countries. Without this trade the romans would never have gained the vastness of their empire as they did.

In the beginning before Rome was even an idea their was a small group of nomads in the middle of the Fertile Crescent. They were probably a small group of hunter gatherers that were experiencing problems such as unusual animal migration patterns, drought, and a number of of other factors that would cause them to become an agricultural community. After they had established a agricultural community and had been growing for quite a while the populations were also increasing meaning that they would have more time to develop other kinds of technologies to improve life. After a long while when the community started to wither or fade away due to any number of reasons such as drought, famine, or disease. The only option they had was to look else where for better living conditions. This is how the people of the fertile crescent migrated to other parts of the world.

These people that started to migrate moved up into the Europe to somewhere around Germany in about 5600 B.C. where they settled and developed more technologies and better agriculture. Finally the Indo-Europeans moved over the alps down into Italy where they settled in three small villages on three hills near the tiber river. These three villages ha no desire to become Rome at this point they were more concerned on surviving. this was the case for many years until they found that the other towns near by had things that they needed. So naturally these towns started to trade and through this trade these towns grew larger and larger until they were all so large that they decided to merge and become one unified city.

Before this gets to far into Rome and its trade there are some myths about Rome’s beginnings that are to be sheared. the first one is the one that Remus and Romulus were the sons of a human virgin and a the god of mars. The were born and left in the woods to die when a she-wolf found them and nurtured them and took care of them until they were young able men who ruled over a village of shepherds. These men were eager to expand their rule. Due to the fact that they were the sons of a god and they thought they were invincible they started to take over near by herds and villages. After many years of conquest they formed the city of Rome this is the myth of Rome’s beginnings. The other myth is that the same two men Remus and Romulus were the nephews of a king who ruled over most of the villages and shepherds in a small area. But these two men ruled over the outlaws and a few shepherds in the area so they took their uncle by force and made what we know to be Rome.

Now back to early Rome, the fact that they were close to a river was an advantage. The Romans had the need for boats to fish with so they started making boats. These boats were primitive and didn’t fill their needs so the went on to develop better boats that could go further and further out to sea. This meant they needed navigational equipment which they also developed. After many years of technological evolution they had the means to trade with other countries far away. Through this trade Rome grew and grew so the naturally went for more land and the waged wars on weaker cities and enemies in the area causing massive growth. This was due to the fact that they were geographically very lucky because they were situated on a river that led into the Mediterranean which was the traders paradise at the time and after gaining control of this area they were able to become a power house of trade and comers.

When Rome became much larger through conquest they still needed to trade What they traded was mostly luxury goods. They exported such items glass, wine, gold and pottery. The romans also exported other many things such as tin, lead and wheat. But trade is not only about what they exported but what they imported too. they imported such items as olive oil, amber and wine. The romans were great traders but since they had such a large empire they did not need to import many goods. But a lot of grain ,about four hundred thousand tons a year, had to be imported because of the large population the city of rome had. The city of rome at its peek had over one million people to feed therefore the unbelievably large amounts of grain were imported. The grains that were imported were mostly staple grains such as rice and wheat.

It was established what kinds of goods and and commodities were imported and exported to and from Rome. But what parts of Rome were doing this trading? Most of the luxury items and staple grains were imported to the capital of the Roman empire, the city of Rome. The things that were being exported from rome were produced mostly in the rural areas of Italy on large estates. These large estates were run by Roman owners that had no objection of using slave labor. In effect these large estates that were using slave labor made their Roman owners very rich very quickly. They got their slaves from northern Africa from places like Egypt and Lybia and Ethiopia.

The Romans didn’t get rich by just using slave labor on large estates. They also traded with other countries as is expected of any major civilization. They traded a lot with north africa and Egypt. Most of Rome’s grain came from these countries. China, India and Arabia was where they got their silks, spices and perfumes from, among other luxury goods. The romans also traded with Parthian empire, the Kushan empire and the Nomadic confederation.

What made the roman empire get into trade? Well this is easily answered because with any rising empire there needs to be trade first. with out trade the Rome would still be a little village with no real power. But trade is what enable them to do what they did. through trade they gained the knowledge and skill to be one of the largest empires ever.

The Romans used many methods of trade. Romans merchants either bartered their goods with other countries then took it directly back to Rome and sold it to the people for the times the price or what they did what many with smaller companies and less equipment did. those with smaller companies and less equipment usually bought from a middleman which is more expensive then buying directly but still cheaper than buying it from the retailers in Rome. Those who bought directly from the source kept their prices low causing the people who bought from the middleman to make little money. Another way the traded if it can be called trade is they took a tax which was not a tax that was paid with money but with food or other commodities instead. This is how the Romans fed the over populated city of Rome.

The romans traded their goods with other countries because they need to it. The large amounts of money generated and the great amounts of knowledge gathered. It was clear that Rome needed the trade on many levels but one of them is the fact that if they didn’t have this trade the citizens of Rome wouldn’t have enough to eat. Another reason they needed money was because it allowed them to gain knowledge of new weapons and tactics that they might not have had before.

Most of the crops the Romans grew in Italy were already there they didn’t need to get them from any special place or if they didn’t get in Italy they didn’t grow it there, they just got it by trading. The crops were grown on large estates that used slave labor. The cash crops of Rome were olives and grapes. these were their cash crops because the rest of the world wanted it and they grew well in Italy. Many of the farmers that used to farm regular staple crops to feed themselves and trade the leftovers at market realized that the could make more money growing and selling cash crops. When they grew them and then old them they found that they had money to spend on food and then they still had lots of money left for more luxury items.

It is obvious to see the Romans traded their cash crops because that is the purpose of cash crops. the most common traded crops were olives and grapes. The grapes were grown and then made into wine which was also a major export for the romans. Olives and grapes were traded because they were very profitable and were not very hard to grow in Italy there were other kinds of crops that the romans traded such as wheat. They imported a lot of grains too as well as wheat but the wheat that was traded was traded in different areas for example the wheat that was grown in the very north western parts of rome was traded with asian countries but the cit of rome would get their wheat form Egypt and north Africa. This was because it cost almost the same to get the grains from far away as it was to get them from other countries.