maritime trade
Seaborne commercial exchange
Maritime trade is commerce conducted by sea—the shipping of goods between ports across oceans and along coastlines.
For most of human history, maritime trade was the only way to move large quantities of merchandise over long distances: Spices reached Europe through maritime trade routes.
The term encompasses everything from ancient Phoenician merchants to modern container shipping.
- shippingTransporting goods to destinations
- freightGoods being transported
- harborSafe anchorage for ships
- merchant fleetsCommercial vessel collections
- transshipmentCargo transfer between carriers
containerization · shipping container · cargo hold · entrepôt · dhow · open seas · port · cargo · tariffs · climate resilience · routes · sustainable fisheries · East India Company · bill of lading · exports · sea lanes · galleons · tall ships
- maritimeships, ship, boat, boats, anchors
- long-distance tradeSilk Road, imports, exports, shipping, cargo
- maritime powersPhoenicians, Vikings, Portugal, Spain, Britain
- spice tradecinnamon, pepper, black pepper, nutmeg, saffron
- Ancient Pisaport city, ancient walls, Leaning Tower, ancient harbor
- Arctic ShippingNorthern Sea Route, icebreakers, shipping lanes
maritime tradecaravan trade
Goods moved by traveling groups
road transport · trucking · air freight · air cargo · rail freight
maritime tradelocal commerce
Nearby economic exchange
domestic trade · regional markets · autarky · local markets · subsistence economy
maritime tradetrade embargo
Ban on commercial exchange
blockade · autarky · economic isolation · naval warfare · piracy