(February 26, 2017 at 3:49 pm)Alex K Wrote: European civilization likely wouldn't exist as we know it if we hadn't gotten the package of crops from the middle east that was the foundation of european agriculture.
Which came from the Roman colony of Egypt, mostly. It's more important to look at countries like India or China, which had independent trade with the Roman Empire. Independent, not occupied, not forced into the Opium trade.