Herdazian trade?

[SpeakoftheDeval]

Ok so king T says there’s a major trade route going from Herdaz, through Jah Keved and on to Azir and so I was wondering what exactly is traded along this route? I think it’s not too outlandish to assume that Azir is a big market and has mines at Zawfix so they can trade gems and metals, and Jah Keved has mines and lots of food they can export but what exactly is Herdaz exporting? They don’t seem like a market that’s big enough to justify an entire trade route without something to export in return so what’s up?

[RShara]

Chouta, obviously!

[+hwiles]

32 minutes ago, MadhavDeval said:

Ok so king T says there’s a major trade route going from Herdaz, through Jah Keved and on to Azir and so I was wondering what exactly is traded along this route? I think it’s not too outlandish to assume that Azir is a big market and has mines at Zawfix so they can trade gems and metals, and Jah Keved has mines and lots of food they can export but what exactly is Herdaz exporting? They don’t seem like a market that’s big enough to justify an entire trade route without something to export in return so what’s up?

I would speculate that they possess exotic hardwoods, and otherwise rare foodstuffs and spices. Theirs is the tropical region after all, and their climate differs greatly from most of the rest of the human-settled parts of Roshar.

[SpeakoftheDeval]

36 minutes ago, hwiles said:

I would speculate that they possess exotic hardwoods, and otherwise rare foodstuffs and spices. Theirs is the tropical region after all, and their climate differs greatly from most of the rest of the human-settled parts of Roshar.

Well long distance trade items need to be long lasting and light- hardwood is probably too heavy for long distance pre modern trade and foodstuffs would have to be imperishable. I think the thing that most lends itself is spices yeah

or actually what about silk? Whoever makes silk would certainly have a lot of economic power considering the massive demand.

Edited July 12, 2018 by MadhavDeval

[StrikerEZ]

3 hours ago, MadhavDeval said:

Well long distance trade items need to be long lasting and light- hardwood is probably too heavy for long distance pre modern trade and foodstuffs would have to be imperishable. I think the thing that most lends itself is spices yeah

or actually what about silk? Whoever makes silk would certainly have a lot of economic power considering the massive demand.

Honestly, I'd completely forgotten about that trade route. I don't really know what goods Herdaz has that would create a trade route. I spices and silk are probably the best bets, from what we know about Herdaz. I'm leaning more towards spices, because Brandon has said that's kind of what makes Herdaz food so much better. They're able to make soulcast food taste good with whatever spices they've got up there.

[Weltall]

Yeah, given that they came up with the way of making flangria (which apparently tastes really bland on its own, Kaladin likens soulcast food to mold in that scene) delicious they've probably got ready access to herbs and spices in Herdaz for experimenting. We know that spice is really popular in the Vorin lands for men's food and the location fits geographically where we'd expect to see a center of spice production.

4 hours ago, RShara said:

Chouta, obviously!

Also this. And the fact that Sixth of the Dusk hates Herdazian food is proof that he's got awful taste. xD

Edited July 12, 2018 by Weltall

[king of nowhere]

spices may be a worldwide export of herdaz, but I'd surmise there's a lot of local trade too. A traderoute may be important just because it passes through a lot of densely inhabited regions

[+hwiles]

Oh yeah, they live by the sea, so salted fish too.  I imagine Rosharans get tired of crab meat and grain every day and fish, even salted and barreled, is probably pretty beloved.  Inland lakes other than the purelake probably have difficulty maintaining normal fish populations with all the highstorms...regional alcoholic beverages would probably go over well too.  Also slaves, Lopen was enslaved and, at some point, sold to Sadeas' army; we shouldn't assume that this isn't a common occurrence.  The Herdazians seem to be a very fecund people considering Lopen's many "cousins."  It's possible they sell tremendous numbers of overflow children.