Power and Economic Power
For Economic Power
To gain wealth was another important reason to connect with other people and lands. Individuals, governments, and companies wanted to make profits by obtaining resources and labour as cheaply as possible. This required increasing trade. Large cities, such as Petra (now modern Jordan), sprang up to facilitate trade and accumulate wealth. These large cities became focal points for cultural crossroads.
Sometimes trade led to exploitation of the workers who made or grew the trade-able materials. Other times, individuals desiring to increase their personal wealth emigrated to new lands where there were plentiful markets. This immigration increased cultural contact bringing new ideas and ways of doing things.
For Religion
People with strong spiritual beliefs tend to spread their beliefs as they move around. Early imperialists, such as Alexander the Great or a contemporary of his, Chandragupta Maurya of India, often facilitated the spread of their beliefs as they conquered new lands. Some of those beliefs were assimilated into the belief system of the dominant culture.
Some conquerors brought new beliefs with them. For example, Chandragupta's imperial expansions introduced the spiritual beliefs of Buddhism to southeast Asia.
Buddha spoke of the attainment of spiritual bliss by overcoming negative emotions such as anger, jealousy, and ignorance by creating a positive frame of mind. Early Buddhists established cultural contacts from India to China. As they traveled between cultures, they spread their beliefs and opened routes to new lands.
