ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Incense trade route

Okay kiddo, so incense is a special kind of plant material that smells really good when you burn it. People have been using it for a long time in different cultures for things like religious ceremonies, perfumes, and even medicine.

Now, back in the olden days, the people who wanted to use incense had to get it from places like Arabia and East Africa. But these places were really far away from places like Egypt, Rome, and Greece where there were lots of people who wanted to use incense.

So, the incense trade route was a special pathway that traders used to bring incense from these far-off regions to the places where it was in high demand. Think of it like a super long road, but instead of cars, people used camels or other pack animals to carry the incense.

The journey was really tough because there were a lot of obstacles along the way, like harsh desert terrain, bandits, robbers, and wild animals. And, traders had to cross the Red Sea or the Arabian Sea, which was really hard too.

But, despite all these difficulties, traders continued to use the incense trade route as it was very profitable for them. The incense trade route became famous as it was one of the most ancient and precious trading networks in the world.