Classical Era

By bsb0516
  • 1000 BCE

    Bananas

    Bananas were cultivated in other places in Southeast Asia as well, then traveled to India, and may have reached Africa by around 1000 BCE. During the classical era, bananas spread as a crop and a food into China and may have been known in parts of the Middle East.
  • 525 BCE

    Frankincense and myrrh

    Frankincense and myrrh are the dried sap of trees that grow exclusively in Southern Arabia, Ethiopia, and Somalia. During the Classical Era, they were transported by Arab merchants-along with spices, gold, ivory, pearls, precious stones and textiles-through the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula using camel caravans.
  • Period: 510 BCE to 515 BCE

    Scylax of Caryanda

    He was famous for this voyage and brought news of these regions that encouraged trade expeditions. He made a voyage into the Indian Ocean and went exploring in the service of King Darius of Persia (528-468 BCE), who had heard of the riches of India and wanted to discover the mouth of the Indus River.
  • 500 BCE

    Cinnamion and Cassia

    Cinnamon and cassia are pungent spices made from the bark of two different trees. The probable origin of cinnamon in Sri Lanka, where the evergreen tree grows from which the inner bark is cut, then dried into curled cinnamon sticks. Cassia is native to China but spread throughout Southeast Asia.
  • 100 BCE

    Pepper

    Pepper was an important part of the spice trade, which flourished from the first century BCE first century CE. During this period, merchants of the Indian Ocean began to truly understand and seamen mastered the Indian Ocean monsoon wind patterns, which had been discovered earlier.
  • Period: 326 to 327

    Nearchus

    He was an explorer and officer in the navy of Alexander the Great who was ordered to build a naval fleet to take part of the army back to Babylonia. Nearchus wrote a book about the naval expedition but it is only known from accounts in other sources.