Economic expansion of roman empire? Related: Chapter 3: An Empire acr...
Economic expansion of Roman empire
1. The Empire had a substantial economic infrastructure of harbours, mines, quarries, brick yards, olive oil factories etc. Wheat, rice, olive oil were traded and consumed in huge quantities. They came mainly from Spain, Gallic province, North Africa, Egypt, Italy where conditions were best for these crops
2. Liquids like wine, and olive oil were transported in containers called ‘amphorae’. The fragments and sherds of a large number of these survive and it has been possible for the archaeologists to reconstruct the precise shape of these containers.
3. Spanish producers succeeded in capturing the market for olive oil from the Italian counterparts. This would only have happened if Spanish producers supplied better quality oil at lower prices
4. On the other hand, large Roman territories were in a much less advanced state. The pastoral and semi nomadic communities were often in the move carrying their oven shaped huts with them
5. As Roman estate expanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities were drastically reduced and their movements were strictly regulated
6. Diversified applications of water power around the Mediterranean as well as the advances in water powered milling technology, the use of hydraulic mining techniques in the Spanish gold and silver mines and the gigantic industrial scale on which those mines were worked.
7. The existence of well organised commercial and banking networks and widespread use of money are indicators of Roman economy