History glossary
Trade
the exchange of goods, services, or resources between people and places.
- Category
- Economic activity
What it means
Trade connects societies by moving goods, money, skills, ideas, and people. In history it could enrich cities and empires, spread technologies and religions, create dependency, and intensify competition or exploitation.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Mali Empire
From Sundiata's victory at Kirina to Mansa Musa's pilgrimage and Timbuktu's rise, Mali turned gold, trade and political alliance into one of medieval Africa's great empires.
The Ethiopian Empire
From Tewodros II's reunification drive to Haile Selassie's overthrow, Ethiopia defended independence, expanded imperial power, modernised unevenly and held a unique place in modern African history.
The Opium Wars
From the Canton System to the fall of Beijing, the Opium Wars turned illegal trade, imperial power and Qing weakness into a new unequal treaty order.
The Mughal Empire
From Babur's victory at Panipat to the sack of Delhi, the Mughals built a wealthy Indian empire whose power rested on conquest, administration, elite integration and court culture before central authority fractured.
The Meiji Restoration
From Tokugawa order to imperial restoration, conscription, industrialisation and military victory, the Meiji era transformed Japan into a modern imperial power.
Apartheid South Africa
From white minority rule to mass resistance, Mandela's release and the first democratic election, apartheid reshaped South Africa and the world.
The Rise and Spread of Buddhism
From the Buddha's awakening to Ashoka's patronage and missions to Sri Lanka, Buddhism grew from a northern Indian path into a faith with foundations across Asia.
The Maurya Empire
From Chandragupta's overthrow of the Nandas to Ashoka's edicts and the empire's fall, the Mauryas created the first imperial state to unite much of the Indian subcontinent.
