(I) During the Late Bronze Age, trade became an increasingly important aspect of international relations. (II) Seaborne trade flourished up and down the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, allowing smaller, seaside centres to become powerful merchant city-states. (III) The great coastal cities of the eastern Mediterranean became wealthy entrepôts for the exchange of a bewildering variety of goods. (IV) Bronze Age Greece was an important and wellintegrated part of the Mediterranean world. (V) At the same time, the great states of the region continued to exploit their control of overland trade routes, relying more than ever on moving goods to an international market.