Ancient Egypt traded little because the Nile Valley was too uniform
Long-distance exchange of goods may reach back about 150,000 years, judging by ornaments and weapons found far from home. Yet one of the first literate civilisations did surprisingly little of it. Egypt's Nile Valley produced much the same everywhere, and deserts and sea walled it off, so there was scant reason to trade.
The word commerce comes from Latin commercium, joining com, together, with merx, merchandise. Economists use it for the whole organised system that moves goods, services and other value from producers to consumers. It exists because resources are unevenly spread, people want different things, and specialisation plus comparative advantage make swapping worthwhile. By enabling specialisation, commerce binds economies together and raises productivity.
Commerce, trade and business are often treated as synonyms but mean different things. Trade is the act of buying and selling itself, whether retail, wholesale, domestic or international. Commerce is broader: trade plus the aids that make it possible, such as banking, credit, transport, warehousing, packaging, insurance, advertising and communication, each removing an obstacle of distance, time, payment or risk. Business, in turn, is the pursuit of profit by firms operating within that system. In short, trade sits inside commerce, and commerce is one aspect of business.
The history runs from local barter to periodic markets and then money. Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans built trading networks, joined by Indian Ocean routes and the Silk Road; medieval hubs like Venice linked continents. From the 15th century European colonial powers, with chartered giants such as the Dutch and British East India companies, dominated world trade, and the 19th century added modern banking and industrialisation. In the mid-20th century, standard shipping containers made switching cargo between ships, trains and trucks seamless, and developing countries' share of world trade climbed from a quarter to a third by 2000.
The effects cut both ways. Commerce spreads jobs, choice, innovation and cultural exchange, but it can concentrate wealth, reward short-term profit over sustainability, exploit workers and drain natural resources. Commonwealth universities teach it as a field of its own, with the Bachelor of Commerce covering economics, accounting, finance and management, and New Zealand and South Africa even award a Doctor of Commerce.
Source: Commerce
