Nadene Goldfoot
Abram and Sarai, as they were first called, came from Ur of the Chaldees, on the Euphrates River, an ancient Babylonian city full of interesting man-made items. Abram's journey took him first to Haran, a trading town of NW Mesopotamia, also the center of a moon cult. There was a Habiru (Hebrew?) settlement there as well. You can be sure that they must be on a trading quest, meeting people and trading with them till they arrive at their destination, Hebron (Kiriath-Arba) , which became part of Judah. It used to be a city under control by the Hittites. Abraham bought a plot of land here, the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron in which to bury Sarah, and himself when the time came. 
Trading would have gone on between the people neighboring Eretz Yisrael. Trading would have started when they saw what Judeans used and made and needed. Trading practices must have started early in stone age periods. The history of trade is the evolution of commerce over time, from local exchanges to global interactions. Trade has been a part of human existence for over 100,000 years, and has played an important role in the development of civilizations
Turkey (Anatolia) Greece and Israel
The Philistines were a Mediterranean people most likely originating from Asia Minor. Asia Minor is now part of Turkey. Asia Minor, also known as Anatolia, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up most of Turkey's land area. They also came from Greek locations that were fairly close by via the sea. They came in different time periods.
One group arrived in the pare-patriarchal period and settled South of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham and his son, Isaac. Gerar is a city and region in the Hebrew Bible that appears in the Book of Genesis and the Second Book of Chronicles: Gerar, in Hebrew meaning "lodging-place, was a Philistine town and district in whatis today south central Israel, mentioned in the bible. Gerar was also a Philistine town in the Negev, south of Gaza and near the Mediterranean coast. It was a reference point for the southern end of the Canaanites territory. Abraham and Isaac lived here.(Gen.chs.20,26) Abraham traveled here during a famine and presents Sarah as hissister to avoid being killed by the locals. (The Negev or Negeb is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba)
Another group came from Crete, an island off of the shores of Greece after being driven out of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE. They then seized the southerncoastal area of Eretz Yisrael where they founded 5 principalities: Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. Gaza stands to this day but with Palestinian Arabs. It's 2 miles from the sea.
Commercially, it was noted for its black pottery and in Nabatean times was an entrepot of trade passing from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Entrepot trade, also known as transhipment, is a type of international trade where goods are imported into a country and then re-exported without being distributed within the importing country.
In the 12th century BCE, Gaza was captured by the Philistines and taken over and was used for the Temple of Dagon, god of the soil and plant-growth and widely worshipped in the Middle Eastern countries.
By nature, they were a fighting people, not traders. They dominated parts of Judah in the period of the Judges when they would have interaction with the people, around 1220 to 1950.
From the time of Herodotus, Greeks called Eretz Yisrael after the Philistines; the Syrian Palaestina. Under Hadrian, the Romans gave the name officially to the former land of Judah.
Shalmaneser , king of Assyria, (860-825 BCE) held a siege of Samaria, part of Israel; and Sargon, his successor, captured it in 721 BCE. He then annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelitesto Assyria, which had been an aggressive kingdom by the 20th century BCE expanding rapidly in the 13th -10th centuries, no doubt through trading peopleand goods.
Jews were leaving Eretz Yisrael for trading before the Greek and Roman invasions.They went to Rome first, and Spain for trade, possibly decided by the rabbi they werefollowing into safety.
According to historical evidence, Jews likely traveled to Greece for trade before the time of Alexander the Great, with some records indicating a Jewish presence in Greece dating back to the Babylonian exile, even though these communities were likely small and scattered before Alexander's conquests established a more significant Jewish presence in the region. Jews were in Spain (Sepharad) from the period of the destruction of the 1st Temple of Solomon in 597 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. The history of the Jews in Greece can be traced back to at least the fourth century BCE. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews."
Jews were in Rome in 139 BCE as Judeans. The first century B.C. in Rome corresponds with the last decades of the Roman Republic and the start of the rule of Rome by emperors. It was an exciting era dominated by strong men, like Julius Caesar, Sulla, Marius, Pompey the Great, and Augustus Caesar, and civil wars.
The Silk Road trade brought Jews to Kaifeng, China in the early 12th century (1100 CE). For 800 years this community maintained both economic and religious contact with the rest of world Jewry, which in turn allowed them to maintain their own Jewish practices. The Silk Road was a transportation hub that connected China and the Mediterranean region, and it played a significant role in the history of Jewish people: Jewish merchants
- Jewish merchants traveled the Silk Road as early as the 9th century, and may have been involved in forming the basis for some Jewish communities. Jewish traders from Persia and Western Europe began to settle in China in the 8th century, and a Persian-speaking Jewish community settled in Kaifeng in the 12th century. This community maintained economic and religious ties with the rest of the Jewish world for 800 years. Jews may have arrived in India as early as the 1st century CE, and a large Jewish community developed in the port city of Cochin. After the Sasanian ruler Cyrus freed the Jewish population in 559 B.C.E., many Jews chose to stay in Iran and created Jewish settlements along the Silk Road. There was a large Jewish population in Afghanistan, especially in the north near the trade routes.Genetic connection
- Genetic analysis suggests that there is a direct genetic connection between Jews and Chinese, with some Eastern Eurasian haplogroups shared between the two groups. The Silk Road is experiencing a renaissance, with the World Tourism Organization promoting international tourism ventures along the road. Many male Jews have the Y haplotype of J1, or J2. Many women have the Mt haplotype of K.
- Jews were in China from Persia in about 1000 CE. They had a community at KAI FENG FU and became completely assimilated to Chinese customs and mores. They disappeared at the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, Jews from Baghdad lived in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Even during WWII, a few Jews managed to escape to a Chinese city for refuge. They weren't persecuted over religion and being forced to convert or harmed for being Jewish.
- As Germany ended their use of the Jewish people and forced them to leave, they sought out other hopeful places for homes in eastern Europe.
- Lithuania had Jews living there from 1321. 1492's Spanish Inquisition caused Jews to flee for their lives. 10,000 Jews entered Lithuania in Vilna, Grodno and Kovno by 1495. They soon monopolized foreign trade. They would not convert, so the Jewish badge was forced upon them to wear from 1566 to 1572.
- Jews lived in Poland since the 9th century (800s). Their 1st Jewish settler came from either West Germany, Bohemia, or the south of the kingdom of Kiev and the Byzantine Empires, and were reinforced by KHAZAR elements. They would have been traders, who in the Dark Ages helped to open up the area to civilizing influences. According to legend, the 1st charter was granted in 905. Polish coins of the 12th-13th centuries struck by Jewish mint-masters bear Hebrew inscriptions, thus showing the significance of the Jews in economic life.
Resource:
https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-jews-became-merchants.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.southwesternrugsdepot.com/history-native-american-baskets/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20the
%20Jews,least%20the%20fourth%20century%20BCE.
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