Trade and exchange: the act of buying and selling goods, services, and ideas. Trade has been important to people so that they can obtain materials that they don’t originally have, and inherit new ideas and beliefs. Trade was such a huge part of the Olmec culture because the Olmec society was in swampy area Mexico, so trading was necessary to them because they only had limited materials available, and needed to trade for goods needed in order to survive. In the Roman Empire, there was a time known as the Pax Romana, which means Roman Peace, in which trade helped keep the peace. Christianity was founded from Judaism in Jerusalem. Christians believe that Jesus was the messiah and he was there to spread the knowledge of the religion. Complex societies, empires, and religions all were established, thrived, and continued to grow because of trade and exchange. …show more content…
The Olmec people traded jade with surrounding areas to thrive within the community so that they could get more materials that they needed. Trading for items that the people needed but did not have helped the complex society stay alive and thrive. In the Olmec society, the people practiced a religion and spread it among the people of the area. Spread of a religion within a society brought the people closer together to focus on common goals which helped the society evolve into something more complex. In the pyramids of the Olmecs, there were a lot of polished mirrors, which the Olmecs traded to obtain. The Olmecs traded materials for the mirrors to decorate the pyramids which helped the civilization become more advanced and gain a type of social