Final answer:
Trade changed early villages by enabling the exchange of goods, ideas, and customs, leading to a growth in populations and the development of larger cities and social hierarchies. Specialization within communities emerged, and commodities like salt and later luxury items facilitated the creation of extensive trade networks and cultural transformations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Trade significantly transformed early villages and societies over time. In the beginning, hunter-gatherer and agrarian societies subsisted independently, but as explorers ventured further, the exchange of goods, ideas, and customs started to develop. Through this process, communities made from one area could reach far distances, and new social dynamics began to emerge.
The Impact of Trade on Social Structures
As food surplus increased due to agricultural practices, populations grew, leading to the formation of larger cities. This surge necessitated a more complex system of specialization, where people depended on trade of goods and services for survival, advancing social hierarchy and reducing the egalitarian nature of hunter-gatherer societies. Artisans, for example, required food from farmers, who in turn needed tools and clothes made by these craftsmen.
Commodities and the Evolution of Trade Networks
Salt emerged as a key trading commodity used like a currency due to its necessity and preservation properties. Over time, luxury items like gold and copper also started to be exchanged, extending trading networks and influencing the wealth and cultural practices across distant regions.
These changes led to the rise of settlements, notably in the Eastern Woodlands, where large, settled agricultural communities flourished and widespread trade networks were maintained. The spread of common cultural, architectural, and technological practices indicate that ideas were as much traded as materials, shaping entire cultures.