Trade is the lifeblood of nations, providing vital goods and wealth to nations and merchants, from the ancient Egyptians who went in search of gold and ivory, to their 21st-century equivalents trading high-tech electronic equipment from the Far East. Trade has prompted the exploration of unknown lands, sparked wars, raised nations to global dominance and still provokes quarrels over trade wars, tariff barriers and protectionism. Maps are a unique way to track the development of world trade over time, from cuneiform tablets of ancient Sumer to the iPads of today. In this beautiful book, more than 65 maps give a visual representation of the history of World Commerce, accompanied by text which tells the extraordinary story of the merchants, adventurers, middle-men and monarchs who bought, sold, explored and fought in search of profit and power. Each map tells a story and many of them are in themselves astonishingly beautiful examples of the cartographic art, both witnesses to history and works of art. The maps include * Çatalhöyük Plan (c. 6200BC) * Babylonian Map of the World (c. 600BC) * Madaba Mosaic Map (c.

550) * Stone Map of China (1136) * Hereford Mappa Mundi (c. 1300) * Buondelmonti map of Constantinople (c. 1420) * The Waldseemüller Map (1507) * Piri Reis Egyptian Map of the Mediterranean (1513) * Mao Kun King Dynasty Map of Zheng He Voyages (c. 1416) * James Rennell's Map of India (1782) * Gaylord Watson Railroad Map of the United States (1871) * Atlantic Steam Ship Map (1912) Gold title * 67 maps tell the story of World Commerce through the ages * Combines the artistic world of cartography with the facts of history in a ground-breaking publication * Written by leading historian and compiled by the cartographers who produce The Times Atlas of the World * Follows the success of History of Britain in Maps in this growing area of interest Competition: World Atlas, World maps.