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Oyo Empire
The Oyo Empire flourished from the 17th to 19th century CE in what is today southwest Nigeria. The Oyo forged an empire thanks to their formidable cavalry units and so came to dominate other Yoruba peoples of the region. The Oyo Empire, with...

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Phoenician Trade Network
Map of Phoenicia and its trade routes.

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The East India Company Trade, c. 1800
A map illustrating the markets and goods traded by the East India Company (EIC) with East and Southeast Asia and India around 1800. Incorporated on December 31, 1600, by Queen Elizabeth I's Royal Charter, it was given an initial 15-year monopoly...

Definition
Estado da India
The Estado da India (1505-1961) was the name the Portuguese gave to that part of their empire which stretched from India to East Asia. However, in its widest sense, the name includes all Portuguese colonies east of the Cape of Good Hope and...

Definition
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was formed in 1602 by the Staten-Generaal (States General) of the then Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The company was granted a 21-year charter with rights to trade exclusively in Asia and to...

Definition
Silk in Antiquity
Silk is a fabric first produced in Neolithic China from the filaments of the cocoon of the silk worm. It became a staple source of income for small farmers and, as weaving techniques improved, the reputation of Chinese silk spread so that...

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Transatlantic Triangular Trade Map
Map showing the flow of goods and enslaved people across the Atlantic between Europe, Africa and America in the transatlantic triangular trade which the European colonial powers operated from the 16th to the 19th centuries CE. This triangular...

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Elizabethan Trade with Europe, c. 1600
A map illustrating the flourishing English trade with Europe during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603). Following the abolishment of the Hanseatic merchants' Baltic monopoly, access to a new commodities market in Amsterdam...

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The Hanseatic League - Trade in the North and Baltic Seas c. 1400
A map illustrating the expanse and complexity of the northern Europen trade network of commerce and the powerful association of cities and merchant guilds known as the Hanseatic League (from Old High German - Hanse for “guild,” or “association,”...

Definition
Canaan
Canaan was the name of a large and prosperous ancient country (at times independent, at others a tributary to Egypt) located in the Levant region of present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel. It was also known as Phoenicia. The origin...