There came toGotland from the Baltic area.

There came toGotland from the Baltic area.

There weremany differences and similarities between the ways trade hasdeveloped in Gotland and in Great Zimbabwe. In this essay Iwould discuss the most important ones, that can indicatesomething about trade development in other places in theworld.

The time span in which trade has developed andcame to its highest level in both places was about the same.In Great Zimbabwe it was between the 10th and the 16thcenturies. In Gotland it started in the Vikings age end (9thcentury) and ended in the 16th century. The trade wasreduced radically after these eras have passed. The mainreason for it in Great Zimbabwe was social andenvironmental reasonsGreat Zimbabwe was abandoned.Another reason is that the Portuguese began exploringsoutheast Africa and made colonies there, that weakened theShona Kingdom even more. In Gotland the trade amountswere reduced because it stopped being an independentislandit was vanquished by its enemies.

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The conquering ofa place could affect the trade and its development for theworse. The geographical locations in both places haveaffected the trade development. Both places have coasts. InGotland, which is an island, it was probably hard to createtrade connections when the ships were not so developed.When the ships were more advanced, Gotland was used asa trade stationships from the Baltic area got equipped andtraded with the Gutar.

Great Zimbabwe is found in themainland but it is close to the coast. Great Zimbabwesregion contains many gold resources and it is a goodagricultural zone. The location of an area and the resourcesin it could affect the trade and its development tremendously.The markets that the merchants in each place traded withwere ones that the best way to reach them was by sailing.

The people from Great Zimbabwe used the winds that areblowing in the Indian ocean and the Arab sea to navigate tothe places they traded with. The places are: southern Arabia,India, China. The Gutar traded with ships that came toGotland from the Baltic area. In the golden age of the tradein Gotland the Gutar have reached to places all over Europeand even to the Mediterranean sea countries. Both placeshave traded with countries of their areas since the ships werenot so well developed at that timeunlike today, they werenot good and safe enough for very long sails.

In the past anaccess to a sea or an ocean could affect the trade and itsdevelopment. The goods that were traded depended on theresources available in each place. The goods traded by themerchants from Great Zimbabwe were: ivory, gold, and iron.It was easy to get these materials theregold and iron wereproduced from ores, and the ivory was taken from theelephants that were common there.

The merchandise inGotland was: sandstone, wax, furs, amber and picturestones. The people got sandstone from quarries, furs fromanimals, and made wax, amber and picture stones frommaterials that were prevailing there. The more needed orvaluable the goods were, the richer the traders became. Thereligion in both places was an important part of life andtrade. In Gotland religion affected the trade in each one ofthe erasChristianity and pagan. In the pagan time picturestones were used, among other things, for religiousceremonies and they were exported from Gotland to thecountries of the Baltic. When Christianity appeared in thearea, the Gutar have exported wax, which is used forcandles in churches, to all of Europe.

Some say that religionwas the most important thing in Great Zimbabwes societyand therefore it must have affected their whole lifeincluding trade. Christianity has made the trade of GreatZimbabwe weakened since it came with losing theirindependence. The people of Zimbabwe have lost theirculture and religion and became less united as onenationthese are usually the effects that a forced change ina nations culture and religion can bring, the Portuguese havedone this in other countries, too. The Portuguese have alsotaken over the tradeit made the people of Zimbabwemore demoralized and less wealthythey were too weak tokeep their culture and religion. Religion can have goodeffects and bad effects on trade. To conclude I can say thatthe way trade develops in different areas depends on manythings and there are similarities in the general effects on theamount of trade and how good it is. The small details are notvery importantlike if the goods traded are ivory orsandstonea certain pattern of effects on trade is followed,probably not only in Gotland and Great Zimbabwe, but inmany other places.

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