Trading

**__Merchants__** 

Traveling merchants and traders kept cities in contact with each other and with other parts of the ancient world. Merchants created the bazaar. Artisans and craft workers sold their handmade items. They were paid in kind, which means they exchanged their goods for other goods. They did not have coin money. Usually a silver disk or ring of a standard weight was given in payment. Some of the raw materials used in Mesopotamia had traveled from mines that were more than 600 miles away. No merchant operated across the whole region. Goods changed hands at various trading posts along the way.  Merchants used several different methods for transporting their goods depending on what they were transporting. For example, grain was quite bulky and was best transported on a boat, whereas precious stones were likely to be small, so they could be transported on foot or by donkey.   Some traders were more adventurous. They led their donkey caravans across the Syrian Desert, to the Mediterranean coast. Traders also sailed across the Persian Gulf to India. They traded with Somaliland and Ethiopia in Africa. Traders exchanged grain, wool, and cloth for cedar and cypress wood. They often brought back gold, silver, ivory, pearls, shells, and semi-precious stones. Another trade item was obsidian from eastern Turkey. It was used to make tools. Sumerians craft workers made tools, weapons, and jewelry from these supplies. Some goods they used themselves, and other goods they traded back for more raw materials .   In about 4000 B.C., the Sumerians built the first known vehicle with wheels. It was probably a chariot, but the wheel could be used on many kinds of carts. The wheel was made of three pieces of wood, fastened together with metal bands. Copper studs were placed on the edge of the wheel to keep the wheel from slipping. Wheeled wagons allowed heavy loads to be carried over great distances, permitting building and trade to flourish as never before. The solid wooden wheel was used for centuries without being changed. **__Animals__**   <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-font-family: 굴림; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The animal most commonly used for transportation was the donkey. Toward the end of the Sumerian civilization, horses were known, but not used much. The ox was used to pull charts, sledges, and plows.
 * __Traders__** <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 16pt; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-font-family: 굴림; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">
 * __The wheel__** <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 16pt; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-font-family: 굴림; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 16pt; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-font-family: 굴림; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">**__Boats and Ships__** <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 16pt; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-font-family: 굴림; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">

<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-fareast-font-family: 굴림; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The Mesopotamians used three types of boats: wooden boats with a triangular sail, the turnip or Guffa boat which was shaped like a tub, made of reeds and covered with skin, and the kalakku which was a raft of timbers supported by inflated animal skins. It was easy to guide rowboats downriver, but going upstream against the current was difficult. Often boats were pulled along on ropes by men and oxen that walked along the riverbank. Large ships were built in special shipyards and were used for long sea voyages. These ships were longer and much narrower than rowboats. They also had sails.The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers made transport of goods easy and economical. Goods were transported in Sumer by using sledges, wagons, chariots, and boats. Merchants from Sumer led caravans carrying barley and textiles to Asia Minor and Iran.