Introduction

Think about a time in which all the things you used, wore and ate were limited to only what was grown or produced in your own state. Can you imagine how different your life would be?

In this lesson you will learn about how buying and selling at local marketplaces grew into international trade with goods being exported to and imported from locations all over the world. You will have a chance to use your map skills to find out where the goods you and your family use come from. You will also look at the Baltimore Maritime Report to investigate what ships sail into the Baltimore Harbor every day.

To complete this activity, you will need paper, a pencil and a copy of a world map. An atlas would really help, also.

We have asked your teacher to read an Introduction to you. This will explain a little about marketplaces and our present-day export and import industry. Read along as your teacher reads aloud.

Marketplaces have existed for thousands of years. Every small village always had a market where people could buy and sell things that they made and needed -- clothing, food, toys and housewares. As the villages grew into towns and the towns grew into cities, the marketplaces grew, also. These places became the crossroads of civilization. The real beginning of trade between Europe and the Far East came during the Middle Ages in about 1095. This was a time when people traveled great distances to fight in the Holy Land. The effects of the Crusades on the world's economy were tremendous.

By 1200 many new towns had grown up around marketplaces. Some people traveled along old Roman roads to conduct trade. Some people traveled along a trade route called "The Silk Road." These roads became the highways of commerce. Commerce is the buying and selling of goods.

Trade routes overland from China or by sea from the Indies were long and dangerous. In the 1400's, Muslim and Italian merchants controlled the buying and selling of goods. This made Asian goods very costly and caused Europeans to look for new routes to the East. An all-sea route seemed the most promising. European countries began to send explorers to discover new trade routes around the world.

The seas became the highways of commerce and the lure of new trade routes motivated the rulers of many countries. You might remember the Portuguese sailor, Ferdinand Magellan. In 1519, Magellan and his crew were the first to sail completely around the world. Of course, back then they took the long way around the world; that was west from Europe, around the tip of South America, across the Pacific Ocean around the tip of Africa, then north into the Atlantic Ocean back to Europe.

Take out a world map (or use this World Map) and retrace Magellan's trip. It sure is a long way from Europe to Asia! Start at Spain and trace a voyage to Asia. Does it make sense now why people searched for a Northwest Passage instead of sailing around Cape Horn in South America?

Well, they never really found a practical Northwest Passage, so they continued the long voyage around South America.

Fortunately, someone thought of a way to shorten the trip.

Continue the lesson by choosing the "Ahead" button below.