9781422281215

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The Origins of Trade

T he bazaar in the central square of Samarkand is crowded with people arguing, negotiating, trading, and making deals. The year is 750 CE , and Samarkand (in modern Uzbekistan) is one of the most important cities in Central Asia. Here, many trade routes meet, including the famous Silk Route that stretches 6,400 miles (10,000 km) from China to the Mediterranean Sea. For hundreds of years, traders have stopped in Samarkand to buy, sell, or trade for goods that are in short supply in their homelands. A caravan of two-humped Bactrian camels waits patiently on one side of the square. The camel handler gives a command and the lead camel folds its legs under it and settles on the ground waiting for its cargo of precious Chinese silk and paper to be unloaded. A string of donkeys that had carried cinnamon,

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