Thesis outline-Detail

Intro

1. Travel History

*Human Migration-History of human migration history in the world
Human migration distribution of the world of current days
Reason for human migration
*Academic Travel-History studying abroad
Reason for studying abroad
*Tourism-History of tourism
Various kinds of tourism
*Poetic Reason-profound reason for traveling beyond his or her original reason
*Navigation-History of navigation
*Exploration-History of exploration
Brief description of famous explorers in history
*Trade-History of trade
Current trade situation
*Religious-History of religious travel and pilgrim
The holy land of various kinds of religions

2. Transportation History

*History of Ships-Brief history of ships from its invention
*History of cars
*History of trains
*History of airplanes
*How the development of transportations influence to the travel history?

3. History of New York City Travel

*Transportation-History of New York City's transportation
*Immigration-History of New York City's immigration
Current state of NYC's immigration
*Tourism-History of NYC's tourism

4. International Students

*Practical Information-Transportation, housing, food, utilities and public institutions, etc of NYC
*School-Information of schools in NYC
Admission information of schools
Visa Information
Health Insurance Information etc
*Entertainment-Museums, theaters, gyms, bars, night life, etc of NYC

5.Resources

*Books-Traveling books of famous travel destinations in the world
NYC guide books
*Websites-NYC traveling websites
NYC transportation websites
NYC official websites
Travel destinations' websites

Conclusion

Profound, Poetic Advantages for Traveling

Poetic and inspirational advantages of studying abroad beyond their original purpose which is to get college degree in NY City

Advantages
1. Learning English
2. Independency
3. Cultural Diversity
3. Cultural Benefits of the city(Museums, Various Food, Musicals, etc)
4. Self Education, Self Discovery

Disadvantages
1. Expansive Living Expanses
2. Limitation in working
3. Language Problem

Living away from your country can be a really interesting and unforgettable experience, but at the same time it has very important effects on one's life. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the three main effects that living in another country can produce in your personal life.
The major effect, and also a very common one, is that once you start a regular life away from home, you miss everything. This fact doesn't mean that you are unhappy but that you are aware of being on your own. Missing your family and the attention they all paid to you is a very usual thing to do. Little details like sitting on a Sunday morning watching TV alone instead of helping your dad organizing his things or having a nice chat with your mom makes you realize how valuable your family really is. It is also completely acceptable to miss all the facilities you used to have back at home, like your house, your car, your bed, and your bathroom. It's obvious then that you have started to appreciate everything you had back where you belong.
The second main effect would be learning how to accept another type of society and culture into your daily life. Since you are living in a place with different customs and traditions from yours, you have to be able to develop yourself in unknown conditions. This means making new friends, learning other points of view, accepting different opinions and values, and seizing every opportunity you have to go to new places. Therefore, you'll be able to achieve true knowledge. Suggesting to change your mind totally or to be square minded would be foolish; the best thing to do would be to stick to your most important values and, according to them, change those that you believe could be improved.
The most significant effect of living away from home is the independent behavior that grows inside of you. Living on your own far from your family gives you a lot of experiences toward organizing your life. Since it is up to you and no one else to go to school, clean your room, wash your clothes, and organize your expenses, it is predictable that you will have a good and strong meaning of responsibility. Being independent and responsible will help you get through life every goal you want to achieve.
Living far from home, even for a short period of time, can be really hard at the beginning. We have to remember that all changes are difficult, but they are necessary to go through them to build character. Most important of all, it helps us appreciate everything we have. Not realizing how lucky we are can be a really bad mistake because things don't last forever and we have to make the best out of them.

Immigrants' Story

1
Mr Kim worked in LG in Korea.
He was given an order from the company to work in the company's overseas branch in New Jersey for 3years.
So, he and his family moved to New Jersey from Korea 8years ago.
At the time his son was 10 and his daughter was 8years old.
They were admitted to an elementary school.
After 3years of contracted works, he and his wife suffered to make a decision whether they would go back to Korea or not.
Because they had to consider their children.
Their children had been studying for 3years in the U.S. and they were already very familiar with american school system.
Mr Kim was wondering if their children can be adapted to the Korean school system because they were too young to accept new environment easily.
So, they decided that Mr Kim went back to the main office in Korea and his wife and children stayed in the U.S.
Mrs Kim said "It was extremely diffcult decision, but for our children's future we decided to be seperated temporarily."
She also blamed for a Korean educational problem such as intense competition between each student, very expansive extracurricular lessons, excessive school hours, and etc.
Since her husband went back to Korea, she had only taken care of their children, so she had finacially hard time.
However, when her children became highschool students, she could have a part time job and have extra money.
Now, her son is a college student and her daughter is studying well in a highschool.
She thinks it was a good decision to stay here and never regreted.

2
15years ago, he failed his business and decided to immigrate to the U.S.
At first, he came to the U.S. without his family. He had done many kinds of part time jobs to save money. After 3years of hard working, he finally could start his own business and it was a small laundry. As soon as he opened his store, he had his family move into the U.S.
Until now, they have been working very hard. They have no problem financially and they have a house and a car. He said he's very satisfied with his life in america. But the only thing of his problem is the relationship with his children. The couple have been working really hard outside, so they have not had enough time to take care of their children. The children almost forgot their parnet's language and they only speak English, but their parents cannot speak English fluently. So, there have been a problem of communication between them. Fortunately, the children didn't make any problem and they are college students now. But they are still awkward each other and have a communication problem. The parents gave an advice to the people who just moved to the U.S. and planning to move, even though you are really busy, you have to care about your children as much as possible and teach them your own language beside English.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville came to the U.S. to study U.S. prison system. But, once he came to U.S. he was more interested in to study U.S. democracy system, because his country France did not have democracy at the time.
In his theory, for democracy, there are three generative principles-Equality, Sovereignty, Public Opinion.

Thesis Outline

Hypothesis

Hypothesis

This thesis presents the hypothesis that travel inspires unlikely forms of learning, beyond easily measurable parameters such ascollege degrees.

Such a hypothesis could open a new vision for the aesthetic, poetic and inspirational advantages of study outside of ones own country, which has applications in effective education as well as new forms of tourism.

Travel Information of NYC

Websites for Travelers worldwide

Travel History in NYC

International Students in NYC

International Students Rate in the U.S.

All of the five leading sending countries experienced increases in enrollment in 2006/07, and these five countries account for almost half (47%) of all international students in the United States.
India remains the largest sending country for the 4th consecutive year with a total of 80,466 students, a modest 1% increase over the previous year's enrollments. China, the second-largest sending country with 62,523 students, had a 1% increase in enrollment, after experiencing a decline of 5% the previous year. The Republic of Korea, which remained the third leading sender for the fourth year in a row, was up by 2% to 53,358. Japan, the fourth leading sender with 42,215 students in the U.S., experienced an increase in enrollment of 3%, reversing a trend in declining enrollments that began three years ago. Enrollments of students from Canada, the only non-Asian country in the top five, increased by 4% to 28,140.

Students from Taiwan (#6 with 25,914) and Mexico (#7 with 13,063) declined by 1% and 2% respectively, while Turkey (#8 with 12,474) experienced the highest rate of growth among the top senders, with an increase of 9%. Despite a decrease of 1% to 8,640, Germany rose in position from #11 last year to #9 in 2004/05, due to larger decreases in students from Thailand and Indonesia. Thailand (#10 with 8,637 students) decreased by 3%. Of the top twenty sending countries, the sharpest decreases were reported from Indonesia (down 13% to 7,760), Kenya (down 9% to 6,728), Pakistan (down 14% to 6,296) and Malaysia (down 5% to 6,142).

Expenses

International students brought $13.3 billion dollars to the U.S. economy last year in money spent on tuition, living expenses, and related costs, according to the NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Open Doors 2006/07 data from campuses indicate that nearly 72% of all international students reported their primary source of funding coming from personal and family sources or other sources outside of the United States.

University of Southern California hosts the largest number of international students. For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Southern California was the leading host institution (6,846). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted the second highest number of foreign students (5,560). Other campuses hosting the most foreign students were: University of Texas at Austin (5,333), Columbia University (5,278) New York University (5,140), Purdue University (4,921) University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (4,632), Boston University (4,541), UCLA (4,217), and Ohio State University (4,140). In 2006/07, 145 U.S. colleges and universities hosted 1,000 or more international students - with 28 of these campuses hosting more than 3,000 international students each. More than 25% of the foreign students in the United States in 2004/05 were hosted by just 40 universities with the largest number of foreign students.

California is the leading host state for international students (75,032, down 3%), followed by New York (61,944, down 2%), Texas (47,367, up 5%), Massachusetts (27,985, down 2%) and Florida (26,264, up 2%). Of the top 20 leading hosting states, six states saw increases in foreign enrollments: Florida and Texas (as above), Maryland (13,439, up 6%), Georgia (12,111, up 1%), Arizona (10,011, up 1%), and North Carolina (9,029, up 2%), while 14 reported declines.

The most popular fields of study for international students in the U.S. are Business and Management (18% of total), Engineering (16.5%) and Mathematics and Computer Sciences (9%), although this year all three leading fields reported a decline in enrollments compared to last year, down 8%, 2% and 25%, respectively. Fields experiencing growth include the Physical and Life Sciences (up 11%), the Health Professions (up 2%), Intensive English Language (up 8%) and Agriculture (up 3%).

History of Transportation

Study Abroad

Human migration

"Human migration" denotes any movement by humans from one locality to another (migration), often over long distances or in large groups. Humans are known to have migrated extensively throughout history and prehistory.
Migration and population isolation is one of the four evolutionary forces (along with natural selection, genetic drift, and mutation). The study of the distribution of and change in allele (gene variations) frequencies under such influences is the discipline of Population genetics.

Different types of migration include:
*Daily human commuting.
*Seasonal human migration is mainly related to agriculture.
*Permanent migration, for the purposes of permanent or long-term stays.
*Local
*Regional
*Rural to Urban, more common in developing countries as industrialization takes effect
*Urban to Rural, more common in developed countries due to a higher cost of urban living
*International

Human migration has taken place at all times and in the greatest variety of circumstances. It has been tribal, national, class and individual. Its causes have been climatic, political, economic, religious, or mere love of adventure. Its causes and results are fundamental for the study of ethnology, of political and social history, and of political economy.


Pre-modern migrations

Historical migration of human populations begins with the movement of Homo erectus out of Africa across Eurasia about a million years ago. Homo sapiens appears to have colonised all of Africa about 150 millennia ago, moved out of Africa some 80 millennia ago, and spread across Eurasia and to Australia before 40 millennia ago. Migration to the Americas took place about 20 to 15 millennia ago, and by 2 millennia ago, most of the Pacific Islands were colonised. Later population movements notably include the Neolithic revolution, Indo-European expansion, and the Early Medieval Great Migrations including Turkic expansion. The Age of Exploration and European Colonialism led to an accelerated pace of migration since Early Modern times.


Modern migrations

Industrialization
While the pace of migration had accelerated since the 18th century already (including the involuntary slave trade), it would increase further in the 19th century. Manning distinguishes three major types of migration: labour migration, refugee migrations and lastly: urbanization. Millions of agricultural workers left the countryside and moved to the cities causing unprecedented levels of urbanization. This phenomenon began in Britain in the late 18th century and spread around the world and continues to this day in many areas.
Industrialization encouraged migration wherever it appeared. The increasingly global economy globalised the labour market. Atlantic slave trade diminished sharply after 1820, which gave rise to self-bound contract labour migration from Europe and Asia to plantations. Also overpopulation, open agricultural frontiers and rising industrial centres attracked voluntary, encouraged and sometimes coerced migration. Moreover, migration was significantly eased by improved transportation techniques.
Between 1846 and 1940 mass migrations occurred world wide. The size and speed of transnational migratory movements were unprecedented. Some 55 millions of migrants moved from Europe to America, and an additional 2,5 million moved from Asia to America. Of this transatlantic migrations, 65% went to the United States. Other major receiving countries were Argentina, Canada, Brazil and Cuba. (see also Immigration to the United States, Italian diaspora, Irish diaspora etc.)
During this same period similar large numbers of people migrated over large distances within Asia. Southeastern Asia received 50 million migrants, mainly from India and south China. North Asia, that be Manchuria, Siberia, Central Asia and Japan together, received another 50 million. A movement that started in the 1890's with migrants from China, Russia and Korea, and was especially large due to coerced migration from the Soviet Union and Japan in the 1930s. Less is known about exact numbers of the migrations from and within Africa in this period, but Africa experienced a small nett immigration between 1850 and 1950, from a variety of originins.
Transnational labour migration reached a peak of three million migrants per year in the early twentieth century. Italy, Norway, Ireland and the Quongdong region of China were regions with especially high emigration rates during these years. This large migration flows influenced the process of nation state formation in many ways. Immigration restrictions have been developed, as well as diaspora cultures and myths that reflect the importance of migration to the foundation of certain nations, like the American melting pot. The transnational labour migration fell to a lower level from 1930s to the 1960s and then rebounded.
The twentieth century experienced also an increase in migratory flows caused by war and politics. Muslims moved from the Balkan to Turkey, while Christians moved the other way, during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. 400.000 Jews moved to Palestine in the early twentieth century. The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused some 3 million Russians, Poles and Germans to migrate out of the Soviet Union. World War II and decolonization also caused migrations, see below.

World War II
The Jewish diaspora across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East formed from voluntary migrations, enslavement, threats of enslavement and pogroms. After the Nazis brought the Holocaust upon Jewish people in the 1940s, there was increased migration to the British Mandate of Palestine, which became the modern day state of Israel as a result of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
Provisions of the Potsdam Agreement from 1945 signed by victorious Western Allies and the Soviet Union led to one of the largest European migrations, and definitely the largest in the 20th century. It involved the migration and resettlement of close to or over 20 million people. The largest affected group were 16.5 million Germans expelled from Eastern Europe westwards. The second largest group were Poles, millions of whom were expelled westwards from eastern Kresy region and resettled in the so-called Recovered Territories (see Allies decide Polish border in the article on the Oder-Neisse line). Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and some Belorussians were in the meantime expelled eastwards, from Poland to the Soviet Union. Finally, many of the several hundred thousand Jews remaining in the Eastern Europe after the Holocaust migrated outside Europe to Israel.

Migrations and climate cycles
The modern field of climate history suggests that the successive waves of Eurasian nomadic movement throughout history have had their origins in climatic cycles, which have expanded or contracted pastureland in Central Asia, especially Mongolia and the Altai. People were displaced from their home ground by other tribes trying to find land that could be grazed by essential flocks, each group pushing the next further to the south and west, into the highlands of Anatolia, the plains of Hungary, into Mesopotamia or southwards, into the rich pastures of China.

Types of migrations
*The cyclic movement which involves commuting, a seasonal movement, and nomadism.
*The periodic movement which consists of migrant labor, military services, and pastoral farming Transhumance.
*The migratory movement that moves from the eastern part of the United States to the western part. It also moves from China to southeast Asia, from Europe to North America, and from South America to the middle part of the Americas.
*Internal migration

Ravenstein's 'laws of migration'
Certain laws of social science have been proposed to describe human migration. The following was a standard list after Ravenstein's proposals during the time frame of 1834 to 1913. The laws are as follows:
Most migrants only go a short distance at one time.
Long distance migrations are for those who come from large cities.
Most migration is from rural areas to urban areas.
Most international migrants consist of young males between the ages of 20 and 45.
Most migrations proceed in step-by-step processes.
Each migration flow produces at least one counterflow.
Females remain more migratory than the males within their country.
Migration increases in volume as industries develop and transportation improves.
The economy is a major factor in migration.

Causes of migrations
Causes of migrations have modified over hundreds of years. Some cases are constant, some of them do not carry the same importance as years ago (for example: in 18th and 19th centuries labor migration did not have the same character like today).
In general we can divide factors causing migrations into two groups of factors: Push and pull factors. In general:
*Push Factors are economic, political, cultural, and environmentally based.
*Pull Factors are economic, political, cultural, and environmentally based.
*Barriers/Obstacles which is an example of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s.
*Some certain factors are both push and pull like education, industry etc.

Effects of migration
Migration like any other process shapes many fields of life, having both advantages and disadvantages. Effects of migrations are:
*changes in population distribution
*mixing of different cultures and races (what often leads to negative social behaviors – tensions in society between majorities and minorities, followed often by local struggles and racism and racial discrimination. Also criminality growth can be caused.
*demographic consequences: since migration is selective of particular age groups, migrants are mostly young and in productive age. It can cause a demographic crisis – population ageing, what in turn can be followed by economic problems (shrinking group of economically active population has to finance extending group of inactive population).
*economic results, which are of the greatest importance for the development of the countries.

Commuting

Commuting is the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work. Students who are enrolled at a college or university but who live off-campus are also typically referred to as commuters.
Commuting is largely a phenomenon which exists in industrialised societies, where access to modern modes of travel such as automobile, trains, buses and bicycles has enabled people to live far from their workplace. Prior to the 19th century most people lived at or within walking distance of their workplace. Modern commuting usually refers to people travelling to workplaces which are beyond their own towns, cities and villages.

The advent of modern commuting has had a large impact on life. It has allowed cities to expand to sizes which were previously not practical, and it has led to the proliferation of the suburbs.

Many large cities or conurbations are surrounded by commuter belts, also known as metropolitan areas, where people who work in the city or conurbation live. These regions are often called commuter towns, dormitory towns, or bedroom communities.
As urban sprawl pushes farther and farther away from central business districts, new businesses can appear in outlying cities, leading to the existence of the reverse commuter who lives in a core city but works in the suburbs.

Commuting, especially in the absence of carpooling, is often regarded as a major contributing factor to traffic congestion.

The word 'commute' is derived from the reduced or 'commuted' fare paid by the purchaser of a rail season ticket, where a lesser amount is paid, in advance, for a ticket covering journeys for a period into the future. In general, the longer the validity of the ticket, the greater the discount will be.
Commuters are often referred to as 'Muters in colleges by students who dislike the idea of commuting.

Tourism

Tourism is travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes, and also refers to the provision of services in support of this act. According to the World Tourism Organization, tourists are people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited".Tourism has become an extremely popular, global activity. In 2004, there were over 763 million international tourist arrivals.

History
Beaches make popular tourist resorts. 90 Mile Beach, Lakes Entrance, Australia.
Wealthy people have always traveled to distant parts of the world to see great buildings or other works of art, to learn new languages, to experience new cultures, or to taste new cuisine. As long ago as the time of the Roman Republic places such as Baiae were popular coastal resorts for the rich.
The terms tourist and tourism were first used as official terms in 1937 by the League of Nations. Tourism was defined as people travelling abroad for periods of over 24 hours.




Special forms of tourism
For the past few decades other forms of tourism, also known as niche tourism, have been becoming more popular, particularly:
*Adventure tourism: tourism involving travel in rugged regions, or adventurous sports such as mountaineering and hiking (tramping).
*Agritourism: farm based tourism, helping to support the local agricultural economy.
*Ancestry tourism: (also known as genealogy tourism) is the travel with the aim of tracing one's ancestry, visiting the birth places of these ancestors and sometimes getting to know distant family.
*Armchair tourism and virtual tourism: not traveling physically, but exploring the world through internet, books, TV, etc.
*Audio tourism: includes audio walking tours and other audio guided forms of tourism including museum audio guides and audio travel books.
*Backpacker Tourism is a term used to denote a form of low-cost independent international travel, differentiating it from other forms of tourism notably by the following typical attributes: minimal budget use, longer duration traveling, use of public transport and multiple destinations/countries. The origin of the name comes from the backpacks that budget travelers generally carry in the interests of mobility and flexibility.
*Creative Tourism is a new form of tourism that allows visitors to develop their creative potential, and get closer to local people, through informal participation in hands-on workshops that draw on the culture of their holiday destinations.
*Cultural tourism: includes urban tourism, visiting historical or interesting cities, and experiencing their cultural heritages. This type of tourism may also include specialized cultural experiences, such as art museum tourism where the tourist visits many art museums during the tour, or opera tourism where the tourist sees many operas or concerts during the tour.
*Coastal Tourism involves tourist products located along Coastal Environments - due to the limited extent of coastal environments they often are amongst the first places to experience tourist congestion for a region.
*Ecotourism: sustainable tourism which has minimal impact on the environment, such as safaris (Kenya), Rainforests (Belize) and hiking (Lapland), or national parks.
*Educational tourism: may involve traveling to an education institution, a wooded retreat or some other destination in order to take personal-interest classes, such as cooking classes with a famous chef or crafts classes.
*Free Independent Traveler: a sector of the market and philosophy of constructing a vacation by sourcing one's own components eg accommodation, transport.
Gambling tourism, e.g. to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, California, Macau or Monte Carlo for the purpose of gambling at the casinos there.
Garden tourism visiting botanical gardens famous places in the history of gardening, such as Versailles and the Taj Mahal.
*Heritage tourism: visiting historical (Rome,St. Petersburg, Athens, Cracow) or industrial sites, such as old canals, railways, battlegrounds, etc.
*Hobby tourism: tourism alone or with groups to participate in hobby interests, to meet others with similar interests, or to experience something pertinent to the hobby. Examples might be garden tours, amateur radio DX-peditions, or square dance cruises.
*Inclusive tourism: tourism marketed to those with functional limits or disabilities. Referred to as "Tourism for All" in some regions. Destinations often employ Universal Design and Universal Destination Development principles.
*Mass Tourism is an ecotourism policy to minimise the footprint of tourists by concentrating them into a small area. Mass tourism also maximises the ultisation of tourist infrastructure.
*Medical tourism, e.g.:
for what is illegal in one's own country, such as abortion or euthanasia
for advanced care that is not available in one's own country
in the case that there are long waiting lists in one's own country
for use of free or cheap health care organisations
*Pilgrimage Tourism: pilgrimages to ancient holy places (Rome and Santiago de Compostela for Catholics, temples and stupas of Nepal for the Hindus and Buddhist, Mount Athos or Painted churches of northern Moldavia for the Orthodox), religious sites such as mosques, shrines, etc.
*Shopping tourism promoting shopping festivals as tourist drawcards such as the Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Gold Coast.
*Sport travel: skiing, golf and scuba diving are popular ways to spend a vacation. This could also include traveling to a major international sporting event such as the FIFA World Cup or following a tour such as the Ashes or British and Irish Lions.
Space tourism: traveling in outer space or on spaceships.

Trends
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of 4 %.[3] By 2020 Europe will remain the most popular destination, but its share will drop from 60 % in 1995 to 46 %. Long-haul will grow slightly faster than intraregional travel and by 2020 its share will increase from 18 % in 1995 to 24 %.
With the advent of e-commerce, tourism products have become one of the most traded items on the internet. Tourism products and services have been made available through intermediaries, although tourism providers (hotels, airlines, etc.) can sell their services directly. This has put pressure on intermediaries from both on-line and traditional shops.
Space tourism is expected to "take off" in the first quarter of the 21st century, although compared with traditional destinations the number of tourists in orbit will remain low until technologies such as a space elevator make space travel cheap.
Technological improvement is likely to make possible air-ship hotels, based either on solar-powered airplanes or large dirigibles. Underwater hotels, such as Hydropolis, expected to open in Dubai in 2006, will be built. On the ocean tourists will be welcomed by ever larger cruise ships and perhaps floating cities.
Some futurists expect that movable hotel "pods" will be created that could be temporarily erected anywhere on the planet, where building a permanent resort would be unacceptable politically, economically or environmentally.

Religious Travel

Pilgrim at Mecca

In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

Buddhism offers four sites of pilgrimage: the Buddha's birthplace at Kapilavastu, the site where he attained Enlightenment Bodh Gaya, where he first preached at Benares, and where he achieved Parinirvana at Kusinagara.
In the kingdoms of Israel and Judah the visitation of certain ancient cult-centers was repressed in the 7th century BC, when the worship was restricted to Jahweh at the temple in Jerusalem. In Syria, the shrine of Astarte at the headwater spring of the river Adonis survived until it was destroyed by order of Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD.
In mainland Greece, a stream of individuals made their way to Delphi or the oracle of Zeus at Dodona, and once every four years, at the period of the Olympic games, the temple of Zeus at Olympia formed the goal of swarms of pilgrims from every part of the Hellenic world. When Alexander the Great reached Egypt, he put his whole vast enterprise on hold, while he made his way with a small band deep into the Libyan desert, to consult the oracle of Ammun. During the imperium of his Ptolemaic heirs, the shrine of Isis at Philae received many votive inscriptions from Greeks on behalf of their kindred far away at home.
Although a pilgrimage is normally viewed in the context of religion, the personality cults cultivated by communist leaders ironically gave birth to pilgrimages of their own. Prior to the demise of the USSR in 1991, a visit to Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow can be said to have had all the characteristics exhibiting a pilgrimage — for atheists and communists. This type of pilgrimage to a personality cult is still evident today on people who pay visits of homage to Mao Tse Tung, Kim Il Sung, and Ho Chi Minh.

Effects on trade
Pilgrims contributed an important element to long-distance trade before the modern era, and brought prosperity to successful pilgrimage sites, an economic phenomenon unequalled until the tourist trade of the 20th century. Encouraging pilgrims was a motivation for assembling (and sometimes fabricating) relics and for writing hagiographies of local saints, filled with inspiring accounts of miracle cures. Lourdes and other modern pilgrimage sites keep this spirit alive.

Modern pilgrimage
Pilgrimages are still made throughout the world: modern-day pilgrimages include the Way of St. James, the Hajj, and the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.
In modern usage, the terms pilgrim and pilgrimage can also have a somewhat devalued meaning as they are often applied in a secular context. For example, fans of Elvis Presley may choose to visit his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee. Similarly one may refer to a cultural center such as Venice as a "tourists' Mecca".

Buddhism
Gautama Buddha spoke of the four sites most worthy of pilgrimage for his followers to visit:[1]
Ancient excavated Buddha-image at the Mahaparinirvana Temple, Kushinagar
Lumbini: birth place (in Nepal)
Bodh Gaya: place of Enlightenment
Sarnath: (formally Isipathana) where he delivered his first teaching
Kusinara: (now Kusinagar, India) where he attained mahaparinirvana (passed away).
Other pilgrimage places in India and Nepal connected to the life of Gautama Buddha are: Savatthi, Pataliputta, Nalanda, Gaya, Vesali, Sankasia, Kapilavastu, Kosambi, Rajagaha, Varanasi.

Christianity
Some European pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in 2005
Pilgrimages were first made to sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers like Saint Jerome. Pilgrimages also began to be made to Rome and other sites associated with the Apostles, Saints and Christian martyrs, as well as to places where there have been apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The crusades to the holy land are also considered to be mass armed pilgrimages.The second largest single pilgrimage in the history of Christendom was to the Funeral of Pope John Paul II after his death on April 2, 2005. An estimated four million people travelled to Vatican City, in addition to the almost three million people already living in Rome, to see the body of Pope John Paul II lie in state.
World Youth Day is a major Catholic Pilgrimage, specifically for people aged 16-35. It is held internationally every 2-3 years. In 2005, young Catholics visited Cologne, Germany. In 1995, the largest gathering of all time was to World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, where four million people from all over the world attended.

IslamPilgrimage to Mecca – the hajj – is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It should be attempted at least once in the lifetime of all able-bodied Muslims who can afford.
In addition to that most of the Shiite Muslims undertake a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mashhad in northeastern part of Iran.
The Hajj is an inward journey to the Kab'ah of heart and soul. It is the most important of all Muslim Pilgrimages.
The Ziarah is pilgrimage visit to the Mosque and grave of Prophet Muhammad, situated together at Medinah.
Local Pilgrimage traditions - those undertaken as ziarah visits to local graves, are also found throughout Muslim countries. In some countries, the grave sites of heroes have very strong ziarah traditions as visiting the graves at auspicious times is a display of national and community identity. Some traditions within Islam have negative attitudes towards grave visiting.
The third religiously sanctioned pilgrimage for muslims is the Al Qudus mount, together with Al-Aqsa Mosque and First Qibla located on it.

JudaismWithin Judaism, the Temple in Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish religion, until its destruction in 70 AD, and all who were able were under obligation to visit and offer sacrifices known as the korbanot, particularly during the Jewish holidays in Jerusalem.
Following the destruction of the Second Temple and the onset of the diaspora, the centrality of pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Judaism was discontinued. In its place came prayers and rituals hoping for a return to Zion and the accompanying restoration of regular pilgrimages (see Jerusalem, Jews and Judaism).
Until recent centuries, pilgrimage has been a fairly difficult and arduous adventure. But now, Jews from many countries make periodic pilgrimages to the holy sites of their religion.
The western retaining wall of the original temple, known as the Wailing Wall, or Western Wall remains in the Old City of Jerusalem and this has been the most sacred site for Zionist Jews. Pilgrimage to this area was off-limits from 1948 to 1967, when East Jerusalem was controlled by Jordan.
Some Reform and Conservative Jews who no longer consider themselves exiles, still enjoy visiting Israel even if it is not an official "pilgrimage."

Trade History

The history of international trade chronicles notable events that have affected the trade between various countries.
In the era before the rise of the nation state, the term 'international' trade cannot be literally applied, but simply means trade over long distances; the sort of movement in goods which would represent international trade in the modern world.

The market place
Trade provides mankind's most significant meeting place, the market. In primitive societies only religious events - cult rituals, or rites of passage such as marriage - bring people together in a comparable way. But in these cases the participants are already linked, by custom or kinship.
The process of barter brings a crowd together in a more random fashion. New ideas, along with precious artefacts, have always travelled along trade routes. And the natural week, the shared rhythm of a community, has frequently been the space between market days.
Agricultural produce and everyday household goods tend to make short journeys to and from a local market. Trade in a grander sense, between distant places, is a different matter. It involves entrepreneurs and middlemen, people willing to accept delay and risk in the hope of a large profit. The archive found at Ebla gives a glimpse of an early trading city, from the middle of the third millennium BC.
When travel is slow and dangerous, the trader's commodities must be as nearly as possible imperishable; and they must be valuable in relation to their size. Spices fit the bill. So do rich textiles. And, above all, precious ornaments of silver and gold, or useful items in copper, bronze or iron.
As the most valuable of commodities (in addition to being compact and easily portable), metals are a great incentive to trade. The extensive deposits of copper on Cyprus bring the island much wealth from about 3000 BC (Cyprus, in Latin, gives copper its name - cyprium corrupted to cuprum).
Later, when the much scarcer commodity of tin is required to make bronze, even distant Cornwall becomes - by the first millennium BC - a major supplier of the needs of Bronze Age Europe.

Waterborne traffic: 3000-1000 BC
By far the easiest method of transporting goods is by water, particularly in an era when towns and villages are linked by footpaths rather than roads. The first extensive trade routes are up and down the great rivers which become the backbones of early civilizations - the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus and the Yellow River.
As boats become sturdier, coastal trade extends human contact and promotes wealth. The eastern Mediterranean is the first region to develop extensive maritime trade, first between Egypt and Minoan Crete and then - in the ships of the intrepid Phoenicians - westwards through the chain of Mediterranean islands and along the north African coast.

>The caravan: from 1000 BC

In the parched regions of north Africa and Asia two different species of camel become the most important beasts of burden - the single-humped Arabian camel (in north Africa, the Middle East, India) and the double-humped Bactrian camel (central Asia, Mongolia). Both are well adapted to desert conditions. They can derive water, when none is available elsewhere, from the fat stored in their humps.
It is probable that they are first domesticated in Arabia. By about 1000 BC caravans of camels are bringing precious goods up the west coast of Arabia, linking India with Egypt, Phoenicia and Mesopotamia.

New routes to the west: from 300 BC
The presence of Greeks in Mesopotamia and the eastern Mediterranean encourages a new trade route. To ease the transport of goods to Greece and beyond, Seleucus founds in 300 BC a city at the northeast tip of the Mediterranean. He calls it Antioch, in honour of his own father, Antiochus. Its port, at the mouth of the river, is named after himself - Seleucia.
Here goods are put on board ship after arriving in caravans from Mesopotamia. The journey has begun in another new city, also called Seleucia, founded in 312 BC by Seleucus as the capital of his empire. It is perfectly placed for trade, at the point where a canal from the Euphrates links with the Tigris.

Doura-Europus, a frontier town: from the 3rd century BC
The first major stopping point for the caravans on the route from Mesopotamia to Syria is the old Babylonian town of Doura, on the west bank of the Euphrates. Rebuilt by Seleucus in about 300 BC, it is given the new name of Europus.
This settlement later becomes of great importance as a frontier post, when the Euphrates is the boundary between successive empires.

Palmyra: from 300 BC
The other great staging post on the route to Antioch is also an important site, and today a much more visible one. It is Palmyra, famous as one of the great ruined classical cities.
From Doura-Europus, on the Euphrates, the caravans strike west through the desert to the Mediterranean coast. Palmyra is an oasis half way across this difficult terrain. Its wealth derives from its position on the east-west axis from Persia to the coast, in addition to being on the older routes up from Mesopotamia. In the 1st century BC, when Palmyra is on the verge of its greatest prosperity, a rich new supply of goods begins to arrive from the east along the Silk Road. But by now neither Persia nor Mesopotamia are Greek.

A trade route from China: 2nd century BC
A tentative trade route is becoming established along a string of oases north of the Himalayas. They are very exposed to the broad expanse of steppes - from which marauding bands of nomadic tribesmen are liable to descend at any moment - but protection by the Han dynasty in China is now making it reasonably safe for merchants to send caravans into this region. The goods are usually unloaded in each oasis and traded or bartered before continuing the journey westwards - where rich customers around the Mediterranean are eager for the luxury products of the east.
In 106 BC, for the first time, a caravan leaves China and travels through to Persia without the goods changing hands on the way. The Silk Road is open.
In the 1st century BC the Romans gain control of Syria and Palestine - the natural terminus of the Silk Road, for goods can move west more easily from here by sea. Soon a special silk market is established in Rome.

World trade: from the 1st century AD
The Silk Road links east Asia and western Europe at a time when each has, in its own region, a more sophisticated commercial network than ever before.
The caravan routes of the Middle East and the shipping lanes of the Mediterranean have provided the world's oldest trading system, ferrying goods to and fro between civilizations from India to Phoenicia. Now the Roman dominance of the entire Mediterranean, and of Europe as far north as Britain, gives the merchants vast new scope to the west. At the same time a maritime link, of enormous commercial potential, opens up between India and China.
The map of the world offers no route so promising to a merchant vessel as the coastal journey from India to China. Down through the Straits of Malacca and then up through the South China Sea, there are at all times inhabited coasts not far off to either side. It is no accident that Calcutta is now at one end of the journey, Hong Kong at the other, and Singapore in the middle.
Indian merchants are trading along this route by the 1st century AD, bringing with them the two religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, which profoundly influence this entire region.

The trading kingdoms of West Africa: 5th - 15th c. AD
A succession of powerful kingdoms in West Africa, spanning a millennium, are unusual in that their great wealth is based on trade rather than conquest. Admittedly much warfare goes on between them, enabling the ruler of the most powerful state to demand the submission of the others. But this is only the background to the main business of controlling the caravans of merchants and camels.
These routes run north and south through the Sahara. And the most precious of the commodities moving north is African gold.

Vikings in Russia: from the 9th century AD
Unusually for the Vikings, trade rather than plunder is the main reason for their penetration deep into Russia during the 9th century AD. The rivers of eastern Europe, flowing north and south, make it surprisingly easy for goods to travel between the Baltic and the Black Sea.
One spot is particularly well-favoured as a trading centre. Near Lake Ilmen the headwaters of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga rivers are close to each other. Respectively they flow into the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Caspian. Goods ferried by water between these important trading regions converge on this area. By the early 9th century Viking tribes known as the Rus have a base on the site of Novgorod.
Although they are not Slavs, there is justice in the Rus giving Russia her name. Their development of trade, particularly down the Dnieper (a route which becomes known as Austrvegr, or the 'Great Waterway'), lays the foundation of the Russian nation.
In 882 a Viking leader, Oleg, moves his headquarters down the Dnieper, seizing the town of Kiev. Here, in 911, he negotiates a commercial treaty with the Byzantine empire.
A Viking successor of Oleg's in Kiev, two generations later, describes how this first Russian city is the centre of a triangular trade between civilized Byzantium in the south, the steppe lands in the middle, and the wild forests of the north.
In this place 'all goods gather from all parts: gold, clothes, wine, fruits from the Greeks; silver and horses from the Czechs and Hungarians; furs, wax, honey and slaves from the Rus'.

The Pax Mongolica and the Silk Road: 13th - 14th c. AD
By the middle of the 13th century the family of Genghis Khan controls Asia from the coast of China to the Black Sea. Not since the days of the Han and Roman empires, when the Silk Road is first opened, has there been such an opportunity for trade. In the intervening centuries the eastern end of the Silk Road has been unsafe because of the Chinese inability to control the fierce nomads of the steppes (nomads such as the Mongols), and the western end has been unsettled by the clash between Islam and Christianity.
Now, with the Mongols policing the whole route, there is stability. In an echo of the Pax Romana, the period is often described as the Pax Mongolica.
Trade with the Mongol east is best known through the adventures of three Italian merchants - Marco Polo, with his father and uncle.

Hanseatic League: 12th - 17th century AD
In 1159 Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria, builds a new German town on a site which he has captured the previous year. It is Lübeck, perfectly placed to benefit from developing trade in the Baltic. Goods from the Netherlands and the Rhineland have their easiest access to the Baltic through Lübeck. For trade in the opposite direction, a short land journey from Lübeck across the base of the Danish peninsula brings goods easily to Hamburg and the North Sea.
Over the next two centuries Lübeck and Hamburg, in alliance, become the twin centres of a network of trading alliances known later as the Hanseatic League.

Ups and downs in the economy: 12th - 14th century AD
Throughout Europe the period from about 1150 to 1300 sees a steady increase in prosperity, linked with a rise in population. There are several reasons. More land is brought into cultivation - a process in which the Cistercians play an important part. Rich monasteries, controlled by powerful abbots, become a significant feature of feudal Europe.
In tandem with the improvement in rural wealth is the development of cities thriving on trade, in luxury goods as well as staple products such as wool.
Prominent among the trading centres of the 13th century are the coastal Italian cities, whose merchants ply the Mediterranean; Venice is particularly prosperous after the opportunities presented by the fourth crusade. In a similar way the cities of the Netherlands are well placed to profit from commerce between their three larger neighbours - England, France and the German states. And the Hanseatic towns handle the trade from the Baltic.
Together with this increase in trade goes the development of banking. Christian families, particularly in the towns of northern Italy, begin to amass fortunes by offering the financial services which have previously been the preserve of the Jews.
In the 14th century this economic prosperity falters. Land goes out of cultivation, the volume of trade drops. There are various possible reasons. There is an unusual run of disastrously bad harvests in many areas in the early part of the century. And social structures are painfully adjusting, as the old feudal system of obligations crumbles.
The final straw is the Black Death, which not only kills a third of Europe's population in 1348-9; it also ushers in an era when plague is a recurrent hazard. The 14th century is not the best in which to live. But in the 15th century - the time of the Renaissance in Europe, and the age of exploration - economic conditions improve again.

The Portuguese slave trade: 15th - 17th century AD
The Portuguese expeditions of the 15th century bring European ships for the first time into regular contact with sub-Saharan Africa. This region has long been the source of slaves for the route through the Sahara to the Mediterranean. The arrival of the Portuguese opens up another channel.
Nature even provides a new collection point for this human cargo. The volcanic Cape Verde Islands, with their rocky and forbidding coastlines, are uninhabited. But they contain lush tropical valleys. And they are well placed on the sea routes between West Africa, Europe and America.

Jacques Coeur, merchant: AD 1432-1451
The career of Jacques Coeur vividly suggests the opportunities open to an enterprising merchant in the 15th century. The greatest source of trading wealth is the Mediterranean, linking Christian markets in the west with Muslim ones in the east - known at this time as the Levant, the land of the rising sun.
Jacques Coeur enters this trade in 1432. He soon has seven galleys taking European cloth to the Levant and bringing back oriental spices. At Montpellier he builds a great warehouse to form the centre of his trading operation.

Chinese sea trade: 15th century
The greatest extent of Chinese trade is achieved in the early 15th century when Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, sails far and wide with a fleet of large junks. At various times between 1405 and 1433 he reaches the Persian Gulf, the coast of Africa (returning with a giraffe on board) and possibly even Australia.
Typical Chinese exports are now porcelain, lacquer, silks, items of gold and silver, and medicinal preparations. The junks return with herbs, spices, ivory, rhinoceros horn, rare varieties of wood, jewels, cotton and ingredients for making dyes.

Europe's inland waterways: 15th-17th century AD
Trade up and down great rivers and in coastal waters is as old as civilization. Trade across seas develops as soon as adequate boats are built, most notably by the Phoenicians. The natural next stage is to join river systems and even seas by man-made canals. Pioneered in Egypt and China in very ancient times, this development does not occur in Europe until the 15th century AD.
With prosperity beginning to pick up after the depression following the Black Death, merchants have need of cheap and reliable transport. Europe's roads are rutted tracks, the use of which is slow and dangerous. There is good commercial reason to connect the rivers, the arteries of trade. The merchants of Lübeck take the first step.

Portugal's eastern trade: AD 1508-1595
The profitable trade in eastern spices is cornered by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the detriment of Venice, which has previously had a virtual monopoly of these valuable commodities - until now brought overland through India and Arabia, and then across the Mediterranean by the Venetians for distribution in western Europe.
By establishing the sea route round the Cape, Portugal can undercut the Venetian trade with its profusion of middlemen. The new route is firmly secured for Portugal by the activities of Afonso de Albuquerque, who takes up his duties as the Portuguese viceroy of India in 1508.

Trade winds: from the 16th century AD
The development of ocean travel in the 16th century brings with it an increasing knowledge of wind patterns. The phrase 'trade wind' is ancient. Deriving from an old use of 'trade' to mean a fixed track, it is applied to any wind which follows a predictable course. Since such winds can be of great value to merchant ships making long ocean voyages, the term becomes understood in the 18th century to mean winds which favour trade.
The best known trade winds are those in the Atlantic which blow from the northeast in the northern hemisphere and from the southeast south of the equator. This predictable pattern explains why ships sailing between Europe and the Cape take a wide curving course through the Atlantic.

Spanish silver: 16th century AD
The wealth of Spain's new colonies in Latin America derives mainly from silver. In 1545 a prodigious source of the metal is discovered at Potosí, in modern Bolivia. This region, high in the Andes, is so rich in both silver and tin that it eventually has as many as 5000 working mines.
In 1546, a year after the discovery at Potosí, silver is found at Zacatecas in Mexico. Other major new sources of the metal are found in Mexico in the next few years. At the same time sources of gold are being tapped, though in much less quantity.

The Atlantic cod trade: AD 1497-1583
The voyage of John Cabot in 1497 directs European attention to the rich stocks of fish in the waters around Newfoundland. Soon fishing fleets from the Atlantic nations of Europe are making annual visits to catch cod. They bring with them large supplies of salt. Summer settlements are established, on the coasts of Newfoundland, to process the fish before it is transported back to European markets in the autumn.
England plays a leading role in the trade, and in 1583 Humphrey Gilbert formally annexes Newfoundland on behalf of the English queen. It is a claim which does not go undisputed - particularly by France, whose fleets are the main rivals of the English in these waters.

Dutch trade in the east: AD 1595-1651
The first Dutch expedition round the Cape to the far east, in 1595, is captained by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, a Netherlands merchant whose only knowledge of the orient comes from trading in Lisbon. The survivors of this journey get back to Holland two years later. They bring valuable cargo. And they have established a trading treaty with the sultan of Bantam, in Java.
Their return prompts great excitement. Soon about ten private vessels are setting off each year from the Netherlands to find their fortune in the east. The States General of the newly independent Dutch republic decide that this unlicensed trading activity, in distant and dangerous waters, needs both control and protection.

English trade in the east: 17th century AD
On the last day of the year 1600 Elizabeth I grants a charter to a 'Company of Merchants trading into the East Indies'. Early voyages prove successful; by 1614 the East India Company owns twenty-four ships. But competition with the Dutch in the spice islands leads to violence, culminating in a massacre of English merchants at Amboina by their Dutch rivals in 1623.
This disaster causes the company to concentrate on its interests in India. In 1613 a factory (meaning a secure warehouse for the accumulation of Indian textiles, spices and indigo) has been formally established on the west coast, at Surat. The first English vessel with a cargo of these Indian goods sails from Surat in 1615.

Triangular trade: 18th century AD
The triangular trade has an economic elegance most attractive to the owners of the slave ships. Each of the three separate journeys making up an expedition is profitable in its own right, with only the 'middle voyage' across the Atlantic involving slaves as cargo.
Ships depart from Liverpool or Bristol with items in demand in west Africa - these include firearms, alcohol (particularly rum), cotton goods, metal trinkets and beads. The goods are eagerly awaited by traders in ports around the Gulf of Guinea. These traders have slaves on offer, captured in the African interior and now awaiting transport to America.