wrote:
>> Jeff:
>
> Interesting. I knew about Rome and the grain convoys from Egypt, but
> not that it was so widespread. (Though I suppose you could argue
that
> a city is by definition a community that trades other services
> (including government/religion as well as manufactured goods) in
> return for food from a wider network of agricultural communities?).
>
> Stephen
>
Yes, its extremely common - the process is found world-wide. Any city
beyond about 10,000 or so has to start importing beyond a day's cart
travel unless the surrounding areas are incredibly good for
agriculture (the Fertile Cresent, the Yellow River / Yangtse basin
and the Nile Valley are about the only ones that occur to me at this
hour of the morning). And even then, it is intense agriculture.
Since water travel is about 40x (not an exageration) more effecient
than cart/wagon travel, most cities beyond a certain size have some
sort of water transport, usually involved with food as well as trade.
Jeff