Meluhha: Indus Trade with Akkadian Mesopotamia
- Date
- c. 2400-2300 BCE
- Category
- Economy & trade
- Region
- Indus Valley & Mesopotamia (Persian Gulf)
- Era
- Ancient Civilizations
- Significance
By the late third millennium BCE the Indus Valley conducted flourishing long-distance maritime trade with Mesopotamia, where it is generally identified as the land of 'Meluhha'. Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334-2284 BCE) boasted that ships from Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun docked at his capital Akkad.
The Indus exported carnelian beads, ivory, timber, gold and other exotic goods; characteristic square Indus stamp seals and etched carnelian beads have been excavated at Ur and other Mesopotamian cities. Mesopotamian records even mention Meluhhan merchants, interpreters and settled 'Meluhha villages', evidence of a resident expatriate trading community. Much commerce passed through the Gulf intermediaries of Dilmun (Bahrain) and Magan (Oman). This exchange network linked two of the world's first urban civilisations across the Arabian Sea and demonstrates the reach and commercial sophistication of the Harappan economy.
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Empires active in c. 2400-2300 BCE
- Egyptian Old Kingdom2686 BCE to 2181 BCE
- Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilization2600 BCE to 1900 BCE
- Elamite Kingdom2700 BCE to 539 BCE
Related economy & trade events
- Standardised Binary Weights System of the Indusc. 2600 BCE
- Old Assyrian trade network and the karum of Kaneshc. 1950 to 1750 BCE
- Hatshepsut's expedition to the Land of Puntc. 1469 BCE
- The Uluburun Shipwreck: Late Bronze-Age International Tradec. 1320 to 1300 BCE
- Crisis of the Third Century and the Collapse of the Roman Denarius235 to 285 AD
- Domestication of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs in Southwest Asiac. 8500 to 7500 BCE
Essential reading
- Rise of Kerma as an Urban Centre in Nubiac. 2500 BCE
- Standardised Binary Weights System of the Indusc. 2600 BCE
- Decline and De-urbanisation of the Indus Civilisationc. 1900 BCE
- Senusret III's Nubian campaigns and administrative centralisationc. 1850 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Best-selling world history told through the trade routes that moved goods, faiths and ideas.
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