InTraders 2019: Academic studies in social, human and administrative sciences

Book excerpt: The present study is an analysis of the connections established between the intercultural phenomenon and trade. Both intercultural contacts and commerce appeared and developed due to humans’ mobility and their basis was exchange (either spiritual or material). Since the dawn of history people travelled a lot and exchanged knowledge and goods (for instance, silk was brought to Europe by two Byzantine monks from China, in 550 C.E.), so, travel generated interculturality and trade. Intercultural contacts can be positive (trade, for example) or negative (wars). One can say that interculturality is a trait of the human species. Many innovations in different fields spread due to intercultural exchange, globalisation is also based on cross-cultural or intercultural contacts. The Industrial Revolution and colonialism represented the main causes of the intensification of intercultural contacts which generated an increase in international trade. In contemporary human society, this kind of relationships is essential for development in any activity field. The globalised trade in nowadays world was generated by interculturality and World Trade Organization was founded to facilitate it and to create an international network; the technological evolution and the modern means of transport enhanced the relations between different cultures. Interculturality is an umbrella concept covering a diversity of domains: communication, religion, education, anthropology, literature etc. In this paper, we try to answer to the following question: “How can interculturality influence trade or vice versa?” by pointing out the main aspects of the analysed phenomena and their links. To accomplish this task we shall make use of the historical method and imagology.