Classical Period timeline.

Bananas that we eat today--whether sweet or green--originated from a wild variety of a tropical plant that were first cultivated by people on the island of New Guinea. Bananas were cultivated in other places in Southeast Asia as well, then traveled to India. Evidence from word origins in Madagascar might point to banana cultivation in Africa after that time. 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.

Sugar cane is a type of grass, like corn (or maize), rice, wheat and other grains. Like all plants, it manufactures sugar from sunlight and water. Sugar cane, as its name says, is very high in sugar content. From its origins in Southeast Asia sugar cane had reached India, where it was cultivated on a larger scale. In addition to growing sugar cane in irrigated fields, it was hybridized, or cross-pollinated, with other varieties of cane. In this way, it became a very productive crop.

Jar burials are found at sites across Southeast Asia. Instead of placing the dead in graves dug in the ground, the bodies were placed in very large, decorated ceramic jars in the shape of globes. Grave goods such as carved beads, and shell jewelry were placed in the jar with the body. Some show traces of silk or other fine clothing. Jar burials are important because they may show evidence of early voyages and migrations, since this unusual custom was so widely practiced across the region.

The kamal is a simple navigation device used by Arab navigators in the Indian Ocean since ancient times. It consists of a small, rectangular card with a knotted cord passed through it. The purpose of the kamal was to determine latitude at sea by observing the distance between the horizon and a particular star at the same time each night.

Pharaoh Necho II, who ruled Egypt from 610-595 BCE. Necho II began building a canal linking the Nile River and the Red Sea, called the Arabian Gulf by Herodotus. However, he eventually abandoned the project after realizing that it gave the Babylonians, who at the time were at war with Egypt, easy access for attacking Egyptian territory.

The indigo plant was a valuable plant found in Babylon. Chinese silks were also dyed with indigo during this period. As the name shows, indigo was first cultivated for dye in India, and supplied other societies with cakes of the dyestuff through long-distance trade. Other plants can be used to make blue dye, but indigo is very strong and colorfast when washed. Indigo has also been used as a pigment, or coloring agent, in inks and paints.

Scylax of Caryanda made a voyage into the Indian Ocean from 510-515 BCE. He 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.

An admiral from the Phoenician city of Carthage, sailed around the western coast of Africa. His route extended from the Straits of Gibraltar around the African coast as far down as present-day Gabon. Hanno's mission was to found cities for Libyphoenicians. He successfully established several colonies along the Moroccan coast, in addition to a trading post on a small island off the coast of Mauritania. Hanno was eventually forced to return to Carthage because he ran out of supplies.

An important technology that developed during this era was the camel saddle. The dromedary, or one-humped camel, was already widespread in Southwest Asia and North Africa by the first millennium BCE. It was useful in establishing a livelihood for pastoral nomads, people who lead herds of animals to pasture in dry regions, and live from their milk, wool, and meat.

The Isthmus of Kra is a narrow strip of land that connects the Malay Peninsula to the continent of Asia. Strategically located, it separates the Indian Ocean from the China Sea. As early as the fourth century BCE, traders from India reached the rest of Southeast Asia by crossing the Isthmus of Kra, rather than making the longer and more difficult journey around the entire Malay Peninsula.

An ambitious military commander, Alexander the Great led the largest army - a total of about 48,500 soldiers - ever to leave Greece. Over the course of eleven years, he defeated the Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) and extended Greek control over lands in western Asia, Egypt, Central Asia, and the Indus Valley. He also founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which would become a major center of art and trade.

Alexandria was founded by the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great and remained the capital of Egypt for nearly a millennium. A hub of international trade, the city was heavily influenced by Greek, and later Roman, culture. When Egypt became part of the Roman Empire during the first century CE, Alexandria's ideal location along both the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile River made it the center of trade routes connecting Rome to inner Africa, the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, and Asia.

Muziris was an ancient port city in today's Indian state of Kerala. It was a famous trading market for Roman-Indian trade in southern India. Archaeological work has brought up many pieces of Roman and local ceramics, Roman and Indian coins, and amphorae (tall jugs with handles) that held wine, oil or other liquids for shipment. Many coins have been found at the ancient city site. The port of Muziris was mentioned in Periplus from the first century CE.

Cloves are dried flower buds taken from the tropical evergreen clove tree, which can grow up to 30 feet tall and is native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Sweet-smelling with a distinctive flavor, they were used for cooking and medicinal purposes. A highly desired luxury item, they were traded regularly along routes stretching from Europe to China. Cloves were a very important part of the spice trade, connecting the islands of Southeast Asia to the Asian mainland and other distant regions.

Silk cloth, first developed in China, comes from a thread naturally spun by silk worms as they make their cocoons. Along with spices, metalwork, glass, incense, and other textiles, silk was one of the goods exchanged along a series of overland trade routes known as the "Silk Road." It was both traded and used as a form of money, reflecting its high value and importance internationally. The "Silk Road," connected the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, and China.

At the end of the first century BCE, there was a vast expansion in international trade between the following five neighboring powers: the Roman Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Kushan Empire, the Nomadic Confederation of the Xiongnu, and the Han Empire. However, due to limited knowledge of the region's geography, traveling by land and/or sea was an immensely challenging task.

Strabo was a Greek traveler and the author of the famous work Geography. He was a scholar who traveled to read the scholarship of others, and from places like the library at Alexandria, Egypt, he was able to collect and compare many sources in order to get a picture of the best state of knowledge about the known world. He probably traveled as far as the Red Sea, and on its ships and in its ports he could hear about other lands.

Pearls, which are produced by oysters and must be fished out of the sea, were a favorite of wealthy Romans. An ideal trade good because they took up very little room on ships or caravans, pearls were commonly used for jewelry and decoration, or sometimes ground up into powder for medicine. The world's best pearls came from the waters of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. The pearling industry was very important to the economy, which exported the gemstones to the Roman Empire and other lands.

This gold coin comes from the Kushan Empire. On one side of the coin, pictured on the left, is the Kushan king Huvishka holding a type of club known as a mace. Huvishka is shown honoring the Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis, who is pictured on the right sitting on a throne and holding a staff. The coin, which dates from roughly 150-191 CE, is an example of how trade resulted in the blending of religious and cultural ideas.

The Phoenicians dominated trade and travel during the first millennium BCE. They lived in the coastal areas of southern Syria and Lebanon, establishing major cities like Tyre, Sidon, Byblos and Arwad. The name Phoenician comes from the Greek word phoinikes, meaning 'red people,' a reference to the unique and highly prized reddish-purple cloth that the Phoenicians exported.