Global trade long predates modern globalism

Globalized exchange is not a modern invention. Settled communities have long traded goods across chains that could take years, months, or weeks to connect producers with distant consumers. The Silk Road provides the central example of an enduring east-west network. Alexander the Great's eastward conquests are interpreted as movement toward the longer and more lucrative portion of that route rather than toward its nearer western end. Control of additional links meant additional tax revenue, a calculation ancient rulers could understand without modern economic theory.