This unit aims at introducing students to the role of trade in global history. The exchange of commodities was one of the most global activities in the medieval and early modern world. Land and maritime routes connected ports and cities in Afro-Eurasia. This unit covers the period from the 10th to the 18th century and considers the importance of land routes such as the famous silk roads; the maritime routes of the India Ocean; the intercontinental trade in silver across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; and the trade between Europe and Asia organised by the European East India companies.