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Trade & Shipping Routes

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10 entries

The Asia–Europe Route via Suez

The main artery between Asian factories and European ports, through Malacca, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal

The Cape of Good Hope Route

The long way around Africa between Asia and Europe, revived by the Red Sea crisis and the 2026 Iran war

The Grand Canal of China

The world's longest artificial waterway, linking Beijing with Hangzhou and the Yellow River with the Yangtze

The Maritime Silk Road

The monsoon sea lanes from China to India, Arabia, and East Africa, and the name of China's 21st-century port initiative

The Northern Sea Route

Russia's Arctic shortcut between Europe and East Asia, open for a few months a year behind nuclear icebreakers

The Northwest Passage

The ice-bound sea route through Canada's Arctic islands, a centuries-old dream and an unresolved legal question

The Silk Road

The overland web of caravan routes that linked China with Central Asia, Persia, and the Mediterranean for some 1,500 years

The Spice Route

The sea trade in pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon that drew Europe into Asia and remade the world map

The Trans-Pacific Shipping Lanes

The great-circle sea lanes between East Asia and North America, barometer of U.S.–China trade and tariffs

The Transatlantic Shipping Lanes

The oldest of the great ocean trades, linking Europe's ports with North America across the North Atlantic