Barry Cunliffe

Archaeologist Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe says the maritime trade routes from the Indian Ocean are just as important to the origins of globalisation as the land routes in the Silk Road.

Cunliffe explains the beginnings of maritime trade uncovered through archaeology and the stories of travellers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and the Chinese admiral, Zheng He. He says the trade complements the story of land routes and shows how humans have been compelled to create and maintain networks over thousands of years. Cunliffe explains how the amount and type of trade was determined by the fortunes of distant empires in China, Asia and the Mediterranean and how it helped societies and economies in Africa, India and South-East Asia to flourish.

Cunliffe is a former professor of European archaeology at the University of Oxford. He has excavated widely in Britain, the Channel Islands, Britanny and Spain. He is also author of Facing the Sea of Sand: The Sahara and the Peoples of Northern Africa and The Ancient Celts.