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प्रश्न
Write a note on history of international trade.
उत्तर
In ancient times, transporting goods over long distances was risky, hence trade was restricted to local markets. Only the rich people bought jewellery, costly dresses and this resulted in the trade of luxury items. The Silk Route is an early example of long-distance trade connecting Rome to China – along the 6,000 km route. The traders transported Chinese silk, Roman wool, and precious metals and many other high-value commodities from intermediate points in India, Persia and Central Asia.
After the disintegration of the Roman Empire, European commerce grew during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries with the development of ocean-going warships trade between Europe and Asia grew and the Americas were discovered.
Fifteenth-century onwards, the Portuguese, Dutch, Spaniards, and British captured African natives and forcefully transported them to the newly discovered Americas for their labour in the plantations, thus the slave trade emerged. The Slave trade was a lucrative business for more than two hundred years. ‘
After the Industrial Revolution, the demand for raw materials like grains, meat, wool also expanded, but their monetary value declined in relation to the manufactured goods.
The industrialised nations imported primary products as raw materials and exported the value-added finished products back to the non-industrialised nations. In the later half of the nineteenth century, regions producing primary goods were no more important, and industrial nations became each other’s principle customers. During World Wars I and II, countries imposed trade taxes and quantitative restrictions for the first time. During the post-war period, organisations like General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade (which later became the World Trade Organisation), helped in reducing tariffs.
