Understanding Trade is a broad scope study of ancient times and the empires and rulers that had the greatest effect on trade. It starts with the small trade routes between tribes and looks at how empires evolved from it. We will follow the Persian conquerors, the armies of Alexander the Great, the rise of the Roman Empire, and also its fall. We will look at how people started thinking differently about religion at the time, how the Jesus movement spread across Europe, and why the church grew in power. 

Our Big History course examines humanity over long, contextualized timeframes starting from the Big Bang to the dawn of trade on the silk road. These modules can be used on their own, or as a precursor for our world studies. 

Learning topics for Understanding Trade:
 
This book will focus on how economics became the driving force behind trade, politics and warfare between civilizations and it shaped the world as we know it today. Topics include: 
 
From Survival to Prosperity 
Prosperity to Social Significance 
The Market Place by 1,000 BC
The Bronze Age Collapse
The Assyrians 
Trading Faiths
The Iron Age
The Persians
The Scythians
Greek Stoicism 
Persia Invades Greece
Greece Looks East
Mauryan Empire
The Buddhist Rennaisance 
Ancient China
China Looks West 
The Silk Roads 
The Spice Roads
The Incense Roads
The Indian Ocean Slave Roads
The Rise of the Latins 
The Punic Wars 
The Fall of Carthage
The First Triumvirate & The Great Roman Civil War
Caesar Invades Gaul
Caesar Invades Britain 
Hadrian’s Wall 
The Second Triumvirate
The Roman Empire Begins
The Jesus Movement 
Trade in the Roman Empire
Roman Paganism 
Early Christian Converts 
Nero 
Domitian 
Christianity Grows
Constantine 
Byzantium 
The Power of the Church Grows & Splits 
Rome Weakens 
The Goths Sack Rome
The Anglo-Saxons Take Britain 
The Vandals Sack Rome 
Atilla the Hun 
The Roman Empire Falls
The Power of the Church Grows
The Church Reforms
Medieval Villages
Medieval Shipping Routes