{"title":"Behind gold for pepper: The players and the game of Indo-Mediterranean trade","authors":"Jeremy A. Simmons","doi":"10.1017/s1740022823000165","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article offers a fresh approach to the study of ‘Indo-Roman’ trade by defining the ‘players’ of the ‘game’ of Indian Ocean commerce in the early centuries of the Common Era. Numerous specialized personnel hailing from the Mediterranean, Near East, and Indian subcontinent were involved in the movement, processing, and sale of Indian Ocean commodities. Players throughout the ancient world formed principal-agent relationships, corporate structures, and diaspora communities based on shared heritage and profession to facilitate their efforts. These tactics lowered the transaction costs of commerce arising from a combination of factors: the seasonal monsoon winds restricting wind-powered travel; the asymmetry of information for traders operating abroad without a strong support network; and state interventions (e.g. targeted infrastructure projects and tariffs). Certain individuals attained competitive advantages by cooperating with states to regulate the very commerce in which they engaged (e.g. tax-farmers).","PeriodicalId":46192,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Global History","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Global History","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1740022823000165","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract This article offers a fresh approach to the study of ‘Indo-Roman’ trade by defining the ‘players’ of the ‘game’ of Indian Ocean commerce in the early centuries of the Common Era. Numerous specialized personnel hailing from the Mediterranean, Near East, and Indian subcontinent were involved in the movement, processing, and sale of Indian Ocean commodities. Players throughout the ancient world formed principal-agent relationships, corporate structures, and diaspora communities based on shared heritage and profession to facilitate their efforts. These tactics lowered the transaction costs of commerce arising from a combination of factors: the seasonal monsoon winds restricting wind-powered travel; the asymmetry of information for traders operating abroad without a strong support network; and state interventions (e.g. targeted infrastructure projects and tariffs). Certain individuals attained competitive advantages by cooperating with states to regulate the very commerce in which they engaged (e.g. tax-farmers).
期刊介绍:
Journal of Global History addresses the main problems of global change over time, together with the diverse histories of globalization. It also examines counter-currents to globalization, including those that have structured other spatial units. The journal seeks to transcend the dichotomy between "the West and the rest", straddle traditional regional boundaries, relate material to cultural and political history, and overcome thematic fragmentation in historiography. The journal also acts as a forum for interdisciplinary conversations across a wide variety of social and natural sciences. Published for London School of Economics and Political Science