Five Ports That Once Ruled the Waves

Alexandria fed Rome with grain and housed the greatest lighthouse of the ancient world. Quanzhou was the largest port on Earth around 1300, shipping silk and porcelain under the Yuan dynasty.

Venice built the Arsenal, the largest industrial complex in Europe before the factory age. Malacca taxed the monsoon trade of the East, and Amsterdam cornered spices through the first great trading company.

Every era of trade has its champion port, and each fell to silting, war, or shifts in commerce. The lesson of port history is that no advantage lasts forever.