CHINA
Several things such as tin, coal gold, copper iron, silk, and cotton and rubber, palm oil, cocoa, diamonds, and tea
there was a strong economic motive. Capitalist states in the West were looking for both markets and raw materials, such as rubber, oil, and tin, for their industries. Europeans also wanted more direct control of the areas with the raw materials and markets.
Standards of living varied enormously between the wealthy and the poor in sixteenth century England.Increasing commercialisation as towns grew larger and more important, led to wider social mobility and the emergence of the middle classes. The well off were becoming more and more comfortable as England grew Rich from the mining of Tin, Lead, and Coal, and the Iron industry. On the other end of the scale however, peasant labourers grew poorer as the population recovered from the devastation of the Plague two centuries earlier, pushing real earnings down.With access to improving medical care, education, and living conditions, the better off often lived into their 60's. Between one third and one half of all children however died before the age of 16. The average life expectancy overall was 35 years.
The peace and prosperity prevailing in the age gave a great impetus to inter-provincial and inter-state trade. To cover them federations of guilds were also organised as evident from the seals found at Basarh, the ancient Vaishali. These guilds sometimes did manage the finances of temples and offered monetary help to the government. Partnership transactions were common. Some of these guilds had their own militia to protect the person, property and merchandise of their members. Varieties of cloth, food-grains, spices, salt, bullion and precious stones were the main articles of trade. The trade was both by land and by river. Principal towns like Ujjain, Prayaga, Banaras, Gaya, Pataliputra and others were connected by roads. Goods were transported by carts and by pack-animals. River Ganga, the Brahmaputra River, the Narmada River, the Godavari River, the Krishna River and the Kaveri River were of great help for smooth trade. Ships were built. Tamralipti the modern Tamlik was a major port of Bengal and carried on an extensive trade with China, Ceylon, Java and Sumatra. The southern ports carried on extensive trade with the Eastern Archipelago, China and Western Asia. The items that were mainly exported were pearls, precious stones, clothes, perfumes, spices, indigo, drugs, coconuts and ivory articles. The main items of imports were gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, silk, camphor, dates and horses. The main items of natural wealth were rice, wheat, sugarcane, jute, oilseeds, cotton, jowar, bajra, spices, betel nuts and medicinal drugs, products of forests and mines of precious stones. Textile industry was the major industry. Then other crafts and industries like sculpture, inlaying, ivory work, painting and ship-building sprang up. Living was thus very cheap in the Gupta period. The Gupta government had laid down various laws and regulations for smooth flow of trade, which also had influenced the economic life of the Guptas. The Smritis or law books had laid down the principle that it was royal duty to encourage trade and arts. the Guptas had also laid down various regulations on trade. It was said that imported commodities should be taxed at the rate of 1/5th of the value as a toll.Agriculture during Gupta EmpireAgriculture was not at all neglected during the Gupta period in spite of the spread of trade. Agriculture held a significant place in the economic life of the people during the Gupta period. Agriculture was the main occupation of the masses during that time. There was no modern zamindari system like that practiced in Bengal or Uttar Pradesh. The tenants of a landlord not tilling the lands received 33 to 50 percent of the gross produce as their share. Land was regarded as a very valuable piece of property and it could be transferred only with the consent of the fellow-villagers or with the permission of the village or town council. Paddy, wheat, fruits, sugarcane, bamboo was cultivated in the cultivable lands. Land revenue was collected from various categories of land. State also owned fields of cultivable land in various villages which was known as Rajayavastu. The state would take over a land if there is no eligible heir or if the land tax was not paid. The land actually remained as a hereditary to the family of the grantee, though the king had direct control over that landThe economic prosperity reacted in Indian culture and gave the people time and leisure to cultivate the finer arts of life. The Gupta kings also took special care of irrigation purposes for the promotion of agricultural economy in the Gupta kingdom. Thus during the Gupta period, trade and agriculture both had achieved a thriving prosperity, which promoted economic life of the people, thereby attaining material prosperity.
Pytheas
They established trade routes around the Mediterranean, even going as far as Cornwall to trade for tin. And the established naval power to protect this trade from pirates and other competitors/predators.
Mostly tin and fruits.
Coal and tin
To buy tin in Cornwall.
They had Phoenician trading colonies established along them to promote local exchange of goods, and were located at appropriate locations around the Mediterranean Sea, and as far as Britain where tin was brought back from.
In the ground. Tin is mined. Alot of tin mining was done in Cornwall, England in the past. I believe tin is also mined extensively in China.
Cornwall in southern England.
Agapao tin Elada Agapao= I love tin= the Greece= Elada Αγαπάω την Ελλάδα
tin
Nothing in particular as a region. In 18th and 19th centuries Cornwall (in SW of England) had dozens of tin mines and produced most of the world's tin - and probably the best!
England