Although we do not have much information about the early stages of maritime trade, the Sumerians BC. We know that they knew maritime knowledge in the 4000's. Some civilizations, including the Far East, Mesopotamia and Anatolia, were found in their region BC. Until the beginning of the third millennium, they had important sea trade routes where coastal trade was done. If we give more detailed information about maritime trade routes. B.C. At a date starting from the middle of the 2nd millennium, the importance of sea routes increased with the strengthening of the large trade network between the Near East, the Mediterranean, China, and India.

The development of sea routes during this period was in the form of coastal trade. In ancient times, multiple trade routes served as a bridge between Southeast Asia and East Africa and India. Ancient Egyptians also made significant income by trading spices along the Red Sea through Arabia and East Africa. Significant maritime trade between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal has developed with the help of southwestern winds in the South Asian region and monsoon winds from the northeast in the winter.

The Silk Road was the most important trade route linking the western and eastern worlds in ancient times. The length of the caravan route reached thousands of kilometers and these roads extended to the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Anatolia. Far Eastern products such as porcelain, paper, silk, spices, and gemstones were distributed to Europe through these trade routes. Incense Road was also an important trade route consisting of land and sea routes, bringing the Western world with the riches of the east. This trade link reached India and Arabia, including Egypt, and even further, through the Mediterranean ports. During these flights, precious stones, Indian spice, ebony, pearl, silk, and woven materials, wood, feathers, leather, and gold were carried, especially myrrh and Arabian incense. As the trade between Greco-Roman and India started to increase, the trade of spices and silk surpassed other trade materials. These materials have become the most important materials imported by Europe. Highways, the construction of which started in the Roman period and completed in this period, increased the speed of transportation of raw material resources to port cities. B.C. In the 2nd century, the Romans significantly expanded their economies by using maritime trade. It is remarkable in terms of the importance of the sea route that the Roman merchant ships travel the Mediterranean in a month, this transportation method is 1/60 less costly than road transportation.

During the Ptolomeus Dynasty, Greco Romanian maritime trade had expanded to India via the Red Sea. Strabo mentions that trade has grown tremendously after Egypt was taken over by the Romans. It is known that 120 ships sail to India every year from the port of El Kusayr in Egypt during the reign of Emperor Augustus and a wide variety of goods were traded. The important Roman ports included in this large and wide commercial network were also listed as Suez, Medinet el Haras, and El Kusayr ports. Indian traders lived in the Alexandria section. There were also Jewish and Christian merchants in India.

India's commercial connections with Southeast Asia were of vital importance for Persian and Arab traders in the 7th and 8th centuries. Alexandria, Aden, Dimyat and Siraf; It was one of the ports used by the entrance of Chinese and Indian goods during the Abbasid period. Chinese and Indian merchants, who reached Aden, provided camphor, musk, and sandalwood as taxes to the Yemeni sultan. Muslim merchants had mastered the sea trade routes in the Indian sea from start to finish. Far Eastern goods were brought to the ports of Arabia by these Muslims. These goods, coming from the spice islands, passed through the ports of Sri Lanka and India and reached the west side, Jeddah, located on the shore of the Red Sea, via the city of Hormuz, located on the shore of the Persian Gulf. Goods transported by road from this area were sold to the ports of the Eastern Mediterranean and Arabia. These goods were distributed to the west through European merchants.

During this period, the control and monopoly of Northern European trade were in the hands of the Vikings. Until the 11th century, on the Baltic Sea and the Northern European coasts, the Vikings dominated the maritime trade. The trade of Northern Europe passed to the Hanseatic League, founded by German traders in the 13th century. It was found in the monopoly of the Germans until the 17th century when the Dutch Republic was effective. During the middle ages, spices were the most sought after products. These products were also seriously expensive. The maritime states called Stato do mar; Genoa, Venice, Amalfi, Pisa and Ragusa States held the spice and silk trade between the 8th and 15th centuries. The sale of incense, spice, opium, various pharmaceuticals and spice products sold to the European market has significantly enriched these countries. Until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, Venetian merchants continued spice trade to Europe. In the 15th century, all the important trade routes known to the Muslims were taken over. Due to this situation, the European economy has started to suffer seriously. The economic growth and sustainability of Europe have only been dependent on finding new trade routes. Attempts to find a new trade route to reach the riches of India was first made by Spain and Portugal. While the Portuguese were looking for a new route that they could reach India on the southern route by following the West African coast, Columbus, a Genoese explorer, claimed that they could reach India by continuing in the west direction. He sailed westward to prove this claim. Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492. When he got there, he thought he had reached the Spice Islands in the east of India. This is why it was named Las Indias, meaning West Indies.

By 1498, the control of the Indian Ocean and the spice trade passed to the Portuguese as a result of the four ships under Vasco da Gama folded around Ümit Cape and reached Calcutta. After a few years, the Southeast Asian Islands, the East Indies, fell to the Portuguese, and the Caribbean Islands, the West Indies, to the Spanish. New world riches are more than ever before. Fruits, vegetables, and animals never seen before are among the richness of loquat. Before the continent was discovered by the Europeans, the locals were cultivating gum squash, corn, pumpkin, beans, tomatoes, and avocado. Peanuts, potatoes, and cassava plants were grown in the southern parts. Barley, wheat, rye, oats, peas and lentils, and sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, chickens, and horses were not known in this geography. In contrast, Europeans first witnessed turkey, llama, alpaca and guinea pig.

The word turkey found in our language has nothing to do with the discovery of the new world. Before the discovery of America, the Indian chicken, which was very similar to Turkey and known by the Turks as the Hindi Bird, was sold to Europe through the Ottoman lands through Levantine merchants. The turkeys that are very similar to the Indian chicken and from the new continent were taken to England by a company. The name of this bird, brought by the merchants, was popularly known as the Turkish Bird or the Turkish Rooster. The name Turkey is a shortened version of this Turkish rooster name.

The riches in the new world have reached Spain through the Antilles from the beginning of the 1500s to Spain and then all over Europe through Spanish seafarers. Tobacco, rubber, vanilla, cocoa, cashew, sunflower, papaya, pineapple, and guava occupied an important place among these commodities. It took some time for tomatoes and potatoes, new world vegetables and fruits, to be accepted in Europe. Because it was believed by medieval physicians that these were poisonous. After the tomato came to Europe, it took place as an ornamental plant in the gardens of the rich for many years. Towards the end of the 19th century, it was started to be used as a sauce in meals. During the 16th century, Spanish traders brought new world wealth to the Asian and European markets. This has led to the establishment and development of a serious trade network between the new world and the old world. The Spanish Empire established regular trade links between the continents through the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. France and Britain, who do not want to remain more spectators, have established colonies on the North American coast. They quickly joined colonial activities through these colonies. Bringing coffee from Africa, bringing sugar cane from Asia and establishing production farms overseas also coincides with this period

Behind the first colonial expansion is the desire to increase raw material production. The southern part of America was rapidly colonized with tobacco cultivation and hundreds of thousands of new slaves were brought from Africa to meet the workers' needs. The growth and development of maritime trade through colonies has turned the interest of bandits and outlaws into this new trade route. This situation led to illegal pirating activities in the Caribbean in the following periods. The Dutch, who gained their independence against the Spaniards at the end of the 16th century, ended the Portuguese monopoly on the Indian Ocean and seized many rich colonies in the East Indian Islands. Dutch naval fleets had the strongest and fastest mobility ships in the world at that time. Amsterdam merchants came together with the government and founded the East India Company in 1602. West India Company was established in 1621 after the establishment of this company. Both companies earn substantial income from the slave trade. With the sale of goods transported to Amsterdam via colonies, the economy started to develop significantly. This situation led to the development of exchanges.

In the 18th century, the British increased their activities in Southeast Asia as a result of the British Empire losing its colonies in America, which had the highest population at that time and then added Australia to its territory. The British East India Company has enabled the British to spread rapidly in Asian territory. The company has armed forces, and these combined with the Royal Army and played an important role in occupying India and then Southeast Asia. Thus, they became a major competitor to the Netherlands in the sale of commercial goods. As a result of these rivalries of the Dutch and British East India Companies, Anglo-Dutch Wars emerged between the two countries. By 1799, the Dutch East India Company went bankrupt. For the British Empire, the 19th century has been described as a golden age. Britain succeeded in controlling the economy of many countries such as China and Argentina because of its dominant position in global trade with its colonies all over the world at that time. With the development of steam technology, maritime activities have improved a lot. This significantly increased the relations of countries with their colonies. With the technological developments in the 20th century, transportation has shown a great improvement. Seaway transportation has always been the preferred method of transportation during the transportation of important raw materials. The capacity of the maritime trade, which was 500 million tons in the 1950s, has reached 9 billion tons today. Accordingly, sea trade routes have developed.