TRADING SYSTEMS- EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

 Long-range trade routes first appeared in the 3rd millennium BC3rd millennium BC  Sumerians in Mesopotamia traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley. SumeriansMesopotamia Harappan civilizationIndus Valley  The Phoenicians were noted sea traders, traveling across the Mediterranean Sea, and as far north as Britain for sources of tin to manufacture bronze. For this purpose they established trade colonies all over the Mediterranean.PhoeniciansMediterranean SeaBritaintinbronze

PHOENICIANS  Phoenicia, was an ancient Semitic Canaanite civilization situated on the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent and centered in Lebanon.Semitic CanaaniteFertile CrescentLebanon  The major Phoenician cities were on the coastline of the Mediterranean.  It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC.maritime trading culture Mediterranean  The Phoenicians used the galley, a man- powered sailing vesselgalley

 'traders in purple', referring to their monopoly on the precious purple dye of the Murex snail, used, among other things, for royal clothingMurex  spread of the alphabet (or abjad), from which all major modern phonetic alphabets are derived.alphabetabjad

TRADE ROUTES

 The Phoenicians were among the greatest traders of their time and owed much of their prosperity to trade.  traded mainly with the Greeks, trading wood, slaves, glass and powdered Tyrian purple. Tyrian purple was a violet-purple dye used by the Greek elite to color garmentswoodslavesglassTyrian purpleelite

WRITING  CUNEIFORM-one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BCwritten expressionSumer  cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs.pictographs

 HIEROGLYPHICS-A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carving") is a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system.Greeksacredcarving characterancient Egyptian writing system

PHOENICIAN ALPHABET  The Phoenician alphabet, was a non-pictographic consonantal alphabet, or abjad.pictographicconsonantal alphabetabjad

 SPREAD BY CULTURAL DIFFUSION  TRADE