Page:The influence of commerce on civilization (IA influenceofcomme00ellerich).pdf/12

6 earliest known records of commerce and civilization are evidenced in late discoveries of the remains of the ancient Accadian race, which race was closely allied in its language with the Chinese, who preserve their ancient language to the present day, and who are among the most ancient commercial peoples known. In days long gone by they traded to Africa and the Arabian Gulf; even in ancient Egypt traces have been found of their commerce. The history of the vast commercial organizations of the Chaldeans and afterwards of the Babylonians, the Hittites, and the Egyptians, all of whom had intercourse with India and China, is vague and uncertain, but we do know that there was vast commerce conducted between these countries, as is shewn in the case of the Hittites, who were great miners and who paid tribute to Egypt, which Empire gradually declined over most of Africa. The Hittites attained an advanced state of civilization, and the commercial importance of their capital, Carchemish, extending from all Western Asia to the Mediterranean, was practically supreme. The Phoenicians controlled the commerce of the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf; their trade was enormous and their civilization of a very high order. The alphabets of Greece, Rome, and all modern nations are derived from Phoenicia. Arabia also contributed largely in ancient times, and also, as we shall see in more modern times, to the commerce and the civilization of the world; and, though derived from India in the first instance, we have the word "cypher" and the Arabic numerals now used. The Phoenician traders penetrated to Great Britain and Spain, and the remains of their enterprise now exist in the tin mines in Cornwall and in the copper mines in Spain, the Rio Tinto, and the Tharsis: the latter called after one of their cities. We thus see that commerce by exploring the earth and accumulating wealth and also great knowledge was founding a vast civilization over 6,000 to 7,000 years ago; and even then these records allude to far earlier huge commercial organizations and advanced systems of civilization. We learn of complete systems of banking, of highly-codified laws, of religions, and high scientific knowledge, which not only