Finally we should mention the building-industry of Armenia, which with its natural materials such as stone and limestone, has been a national art throughout Armenian history.
To Byzantine and Baghdad, which were the two major centres of consumption at that time (Byzantine with around 1 million people and Baghdad with slightly more than 1 million inhabitants), Armenia exported quality cloth, woollen products, scarves, handkerchiefs, carpets, strings, nets, leather-products and metal products.
Among the natural products which were exported were salt, grains, wine, wood, cattle, horses, mink coats and honey.
King Smbat I signed a trade-treaty with Byzantine. The export of Armenia to Constantinople went through the route Van-Bitlis-Mosul, or through Dvin-Nakhichevan-Tabriz.
Armenia relied on its domestic products as they were the secure base for the country's income, and also maximised on its geographical position as one of the most important junction-points in the trade-routes of the world. The majority of trade routes from the west towards Central Asia and the Far East went through Armenia. The products of China, such as raw silk (which was treated in Armenia and some other countries in the Middle East), silk clothing, tea and Chinese lacquer came to Armenia through Turkistan and over the Caspian Sea or the harbour city of Trabizond, or through roads which passed through Asia Minor to Cilicia, or Constantinople and from there were freighted further on to Middle East or Europe. The products of India, among others spices, pearls and valuable sorts of wood came to Armenia through Persia and were sent on their journey to the western countries. The competing trade route ran through Egypt. Prior to the existence of the Suez Canal, however, the merchandise had to be transported from ship to another in order to pass through the Red Sea, which was heavily ravaged by pirates.
The trade between Baghdad and Byzantine, which was of great importance since they were the greatest and the richest countries of that time (apart from China), went through Armenia via the route Mosul-Bitlis-Karin (present Erzurum) or via Tabriz-Karin. It was also through Armenia that the contact between Baghdad and Georgia was maintained and the trade between the capital of the Arab Empire and the southern parts of Russia and the Scandinavian countries occurred.
The latter trade increased, especially during the 10th century, when the Vikings had given up their plundering and started to trade, creating a successful route, which went via the Black Sea and through Russia to the Baltic Sea. The most important vein of this trade route was the River Dnepr, while the two major cities of Kiev and Novgorod held important warehouses. In this way they were able to freight the products of the Arab Empire and Central Asia to Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea region. Some of these merchandises, which came from Central Asia and Baghdad, passed through Armenia before they arrived to the Dnepr River.
As far as the social conditions of this time were concerned, land, as in previous periods, belonged to the king or the nobility and the church and the peasants still lived as bondsmen. This situation corresponded completely to the general way of thinking in those days. In the Armenian ordinance laws, which were written by a person by the name of Mkhitar Gos, during the 12th century, there is an example of this: "The lands belong to the king and the nobility. It is true that man is born free to this world, but he must obey his superior power, farm his land and irrigate its cultivations."
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