Phoenician Traders
Mediterranean “Hot Bed”
• Phoenicians, or Mediterranean traders, carried
many new ideas from one society to another
– Writing, government, and religion
• Minoans dominate trade early, pottery and
precious metals
– Mysteriously disappear?
• Phoenicians step in…
Phoenician Mediterranean
• Take over Mediterranean trade network
• Series of wealthy city-states all competing against
each other all over
– Spain, North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia
• Great seamen, traded with Britain
• Expect craftsmen
– Wood, metal, glass, and murex
• Traded their goods with others while transporting
other civilizations goods to trade
• Language creation
– First to use symbols as sounds
– Needed a quick and uniform way to communicate with trade
partners who were from all over
• Phoenician trade ensured the exchange of
products and information
– Ideas, religious beliefs, art, and ways of living
– Cultural diffusion through moving merchandise
• Same thing happening today…
– Interdependent world
– Creates a “global caste”
– Look ahead…
• Trade simulation game…5 groups
Trade Networks