For thousands and thousands of years, people produced most of what they needed for themselves. They grew or hunted for their own food, and made their own simple tools. But little by little they learned that they could have more varied goods by trading.
The earliest trade we do know something about is the caravan trade across the deserts of Asia around 2500 bc, to and from cities in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Arabia. These caravans had to carry fodder for the animals and food for the drivers and merchants. Not much space was left for the cargo. As a result, the goods carried were light but valuable, things such as gold and precious stones – that is, luxuries and not necessities. After this, trade by sea started to become more common.
The Phoenicians of the coast of Syria were the first manufacturers who developed commerce by sea. They exported metalware, glassware, and textiles. These were traded for raw materials, especially tin, copper, and silver. This trade also was mainly in luxuries for the ships were small.
The Phoenicians lived at the same time as the Greeks and the Romans. Athens was the first big commercial city in Europe, and it was the first community: to import and export necessities (not just luxuries) in large quantities. Grain was imported for the increasing population from the shores of the Black Sea, and exports included figs, olive oil, wine, honey, pottery, metalware and textiles. Greek armies marched into Persia, Central Asia, and India, and brought back luxury goods such as spices, drugs, and silk.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice and Genoa became the world's leading trade centres. In 1271, the Venetian, Marco Polo, went by land and sea to China and helped establish trading links Venice was well placed to be the main European commercial centre
The modern world began as the Age of Discoveries. The great voyages of Spanish and Portuguese explorers, such as Christopher Columbus (1492), Vasco da Gama (1498), and Ferdinand Magellan (1519), opened up new trade routes to the Americas, Africa, and India. This was the beginning of ocean travel.
Britain and other countries of northern Europe formed big companies, and each was given a certain part of the world to explore and exploit. The new companies penetrated into distant lands, and brought back their products, many of which were new and unknown: tomatoes, potatoes, cocoa, green beans, and corn. By the 17th century, the Dutch dominated the world's trade, with the French and the English as their close rivals. All three nations opened up the tropical lands of the East and West Indies, and imported sugar, tobacco, tea, and coffee into Europe.
During the 19th century, the industrial revolution led to greater production, and the pattern of world trade started to become what it is today.
Today, mass advertising persuades people of many different nationalities to use the same products. Millions of people around the world drink the same soft drinks, drive the same cars, wear the same clothes, and eat the same hamburgers.
In previous centuries, trade was more local, and people's tastes varied from one country to another. Imports used to bring diversity. It is ironic that today's vast international markets have resulted in a world with more homogeneous tastes.