Name↕ | Period Active↕ | Regions Connected↕ | Primary Goods↕ | Length (km, approx.)↕ | Historical Significance↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Silk Road | c. 130 BCE – 1453 CE | China – Central Asia – Persia – Middle East – Mediterranean Europe | Silk, spices, porcelain, gold, gems, paper, gunpowder | 6,400 | The most famous overland trade network in history; facilitated the exchange of goods, religions (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity), technologies, and diseases between East and West |
Spice Route (Maritime) | c. 3000 BCE – 16th century CE | Southeast Asia – India – Arabia – East Africa – Mediterranean | Pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, frankincense | 15,000 | Drove the Age of Exploration; Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands built colonial empires to control the spice trade |
Trans-Saharan Trade Routes | c. 300 CE – 16th century CE | West Africa – North Africa (across the Sahara Desert) | Gold, salt, slaves, ivory, textiles | 2,200 | Fueled the wealth of West African empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai); spread Islam across the Sahel region |
Amber Road | c. 3000 BCE – 500 CE | Baltic Sea coast – Central Europe – Mediterranean (Rome, Greece) | Amber, furs, salt, bronze | 2,000 | One of the oldest European trade networks; connected prehistoric northern Europe to Mediterranean civilizations |
Incense Route | c. 7th century BCE – 2nd century CE | Southern Arabia (Yemen, Oman) – Egypt – Mesopotamia – Mediterranean | Frankincense, myrrh, spices | 2,400 | Made the kingdoms of southern Arabia (Saba, Nabataea) fabulously wealthy; Petra was a key hub on this route |
Grand Trunk Road | c. 3rd century BCE – present | Kabul – Peshawar – Lahore – Delhi – Kolkata (across South Asia) | Textiles, grain, gems, horses, military supply | 2,700 | One of the oldest and longest roads in Asia; rebuilt by Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century, it connected the breadth of South Asia and was critical to Mughal, Sikh, and British administration in Pakistan and India |
Tea Horse Road (Chamadao) | c. 6th century – 20th century CE | Yunnan/Sichuan (China) – Tibet – Southeast Asia | Tea, horses, salt, medicinal herbs | 4,000 | Ancient trade network through some of the world's most rugged terrain; crucial for supplying tea to Tibet and horses to China |
Salt Route (Via Salaria) | c. 7th century BCE – 5th century CE | Rome – Adriatic coast of Italy | Salt, fish, olive oil | 242 | Essential to the Roman economy; soldiers were sometimes paid in salt (origin of the word 'salary'); one of Rome's oldest roads |
Tin Route | c. 2500 – 500 BCE | Cornwall (Britain) / Iberia – Mediterranean (Phoenicia, Greece, Egypt) | Tin (essential for bronze), copper, lead | 3,000 | Enabled the Bronze Age by supplying tin for bronze alloy; connected prehistoric Britain to the ancient Mediterranean world |
Via Appia (Appian Way) | 312 BCE – 5th century CE (used for centuries after) | Rome – Brindisi (southeastern Italy) | Military supply, grain, trade goods, mail | 540 | Called 'Regina Viarum' (Queen of Roads); first and most strategically important Roman road, enabling rapid troop deployment and commerce across the republic |
Hanseatic Trade Routes | c. 12th – 17th century CE | Northern Europe: Baltic Sea – North Sea – Scandinavia – England – Flanders | Furs, timber, fish (herring, cod), grain, beer, cloth, amber | 3,500 | The Hanseatic League (centered on Lübeck) created one of the first international trade alliances; dominated Northern European commerce for 400 years |
Maritime Silk Road | c. 2nd century BCE – 15th century CE | China – Southeast Asia – India – Persian Gulf – East Africa – Red Sea | Silk, porcelain, tea, spices, ivory, precious metals | 15,000 | The oceanic counterpart to the overland Silk Road; spread Chinese, Indian, and Islamic maritime technology and culture across the Indian Ocean world |
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This dataset contains 12 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
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