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Global Trade

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@history
Tea became a drink 1,500 years ago when heat and moisture transformed leafy greens into more complex flavors.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
In the fourteenth century, China shifted from pressed tea cakes to loose-leaf tea under the Ming Dynasty.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
Tea does not cure poisonings. Shennong’s story is a legend, not medical history.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
Historical matcha was heated, pressed into portable cakes, ground into powder, and whisked with hot water.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
In the ninth century, a Japanese monk brought tea from China to Japan, eventually inspiring the Japanese tea ceremony.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
The defeated Qing Dynasty ceded Hong Kong to Britain in 1842 and accepted unfavorable trading terms.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
The lucrative tea trade drove development of the clipper ship, the world’s fastest sailboat.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
By 1700, European tea cost ten times as much as coffee. China remained its sole producer.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
Early tea was eaten as a vegetable or cooked into grain porridge instead of brewed as a drink.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
Britain’s attempt to pay for Chinese tea with opium created addiction and a public-health crisis in China.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
The British East India company stole Chinese tea plants and skilled workers, then relocated them to India.
TED-EdThe history of tea - Shunan Teng
@history
The old routes ended, but their connections permanently transformed the world and helped generate the European Age of Exploration.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Global exchange is more than 2,000 years old, spanning a roughly 5,000-mile Eurasian network known as the Silk Road.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
The Silk Road carried more than commodities. Religions, technologies, ideologies, traditions, and languages reshaped societies far from their origins.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Modern globalization is a technological version of an ancient pattern of cross-cultural economic and cultural interconnectedness.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Buddhism spread from India to China and Japan, becoming dominant there. Islam entered South Asia, blended with local beliefs, and contributed to Sikhism.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Darius I completed the Persian Royal Road in the fifth century BCE, stretching nearly 2,000 miles from the Tigris River to the Aegean Sea.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Gunpowder traveled from China to the Middle East, helping shape the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Relay points on the Persian Royal Road moved goods and messages in about one-tenth the time required by a single traveler.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
The Silk Road helped undermine itself. The magnetic compass made maritime routes more competitive, while political changes reduced Chinese participation in international trade.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Chinese silk reached Rome, drained gold from the empire, and prompted a Roman ban. Roman glassware became prized in China.
TED-EdThe Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo
@history
Caffeine may protect coffee plants from herbivores or attract the pollinators they need.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
By 1906, Brazil supplied more than 80% of the world’s coffee exports.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
Europeans reported drinking enormous quantities of coffee, though historical servings were probably smaller and weaker than modern cups.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
Before the 1400s, people in what is now Ethiopia were already foraging wild coffee.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
Climate change is projected to shrink the equatorial Bean Belt, threatening future coffee supplies and production.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
In the 1450s, coffee became widely popular in the Middle East through trade routes and Yemeni Sufi rituals.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
By the late 1500s, Yemen cultivated coffee for export through Al-Makha, whose name became Mocha.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
The first commercial espresso machine was showcased at the 1906 Milan World’s Fair.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
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London had more than 80 coffeehouses by 1663, despite King Charles II’s failed attempt to ban them in 1675.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
People first used coffee leaves as tea, mixed berries with butter and salt, then roasted the cherries into a drink.
TED-EdHow humanity got hooked on coffee - Jonathan Morris
@history
The Silk Road let merchants become wealthy without becoming kings, giving commerce its own political influence.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Silk Road commerce expanded dramatically in the second and third centuries CE, with the Kushan Empire serving as a major trade hub.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Central Asian nomads became key traders because mobility suited transport, herding fit poor farmland, and constant travel increased disease resistance.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Silk Road trade connected populations widely enough to transmit measles, smallpox, and bubonic plague between East and West.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Mahayana Buddhism spread through China, Korea, Japan, and Central Asia, teaching that the Buddha was divine and heavenly afterlife was possible.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
The Silk Road’s interconnectedness spread benefits beyond luxury-buying elites, but it also spread catastrophic risks to everyone.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Merchants funded Buddhist monasteries because they provided caravan waystations and prayers for successful missions and patrons’ health.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Goods traveled farther than people did, passing through chains of regional traders who resold them at marked-up prices.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
The Black Death reached the West in 1346, killing nearly half of Europe within four years, including most Italians and two-thirds of Londoners.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Roman senators repeatedly tried to ban silk, but elite demand defeated government efforts to control its trade and morality.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Silk Road merchants funded Buddhist monasteries that served as caravan waystations, treating donations as supernatural insurance for trade and health.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9
@history
Before paper, China used silk as fishing line, tribute for nomadic raiders, and writing material. Abroad, silk meant luxury clothing.
CrashCourseThe Silk Road and Ancient Trade: Crash Course World History #9

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