Long Distance Trade In The Middle Ages

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Long distance trade is extremely common throughout The Middle Ages. However, long distance trade would not have been a staple in society back then if it had not been for the use of ships. Ships carried items for trade all over the globe and created an advancement in trade. In order to understand the use of ships, one must understand that foreign interactions go hand in hand with the construction of the ship. It is also important to note that with advancement in constructions of boats, foreign trade showed advancement as well. With advancements of boat building, comes the introduction of boat making traditions. The categories are “the Mediterranean furniture-built or carvel tradition…the clinker-built tradition, the northern tradition, …show more content…
There are five main ways of trading that was introduced. The list includes “one to one exchange, down the line exchange, merchants, market exchange and administrative exchange” (Ross “Fair Trade”). To start, one to one exchange is when “the producer of a product and the final consumer transact their business directly” (Ross “Fair Trade”). Down the line exchange demonstrates when “A person or group produces something and trades it to a neighbouring group. The neighbours of the producers in turn keep some of the goods and trade the rest on to their neighbours” (Ross “Fair Trade”). In another way, merchants “take a product or resource produced by someone else and arrange for it to be transported to the consumer (or at least potential consumers)” (Ross “Fair Trade”). Market exchange deals with “people com[ing] together for the purpose of trade and exchange” (Ross “Fair Trade”). Finally, administrative exchange “is trade and exchange controlled and directed (and often recorded) by some sort of institution” (Ross “Fair …show more content…
The carracks “were primarily designed for commercial work in the rough waters of the North Atlantic…This was accompanied by a wide belly, allowing large volumes of cargo to be carried efficiently, safely, and cheaply” (Ross 15). Late Middle Ages saw a “rise of regional trade foci (plural of focus). Some were relatively formal associations, with meetings and even constitutions. Others were informal and remained de facto” (Ross, “Late Medieval Trade”). The Late Middle Ages was prone to one to one trade which the carrack was built to get through with little complication. The Late Middle Ages shows a rise in different type of trade not as common in other