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with precious water and lets farmers grow crops on land that would otherwise be too dry. The buildings and irriga- tion systems were built from the profits of trade. The call to prayer rings out from a minaret. The bazaar quiets. Muslim traders stop to pray. And then, prayers fin- ished, the trading continues as it has done for a thousand years. The Development of Trade Trading is a universal human activity that has occurred in every culture from the earliest of times. Trade is driven by the uneven distribution of resources such as minerals, plants, and animals. Salt, for example, is found in abun- dance in some areas and is completely absent in others. People in the ancient world traded for necessities, such as food and medicine. They also traded for luxury goods such as furs and silk because owning rare items from distant lands was a way to show one’s wealth and status. The earliest exchange of goods in the ancient world occurred through barter . Individual traders negotiated an exchange of products based on their estimate of equal value. There were no standard measures. A trader had to size up the quality and quantity of the goods he was being offered and determine what he would offer in return. Three barrels of olive oil might be traded for a dozen sacks of wheat. The trader might then travel to another village and barter his wheat for a length of woolen cloth that he needed to make a new shirt. As trade increased, gold or silver became a more com-

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