The geographical features of a country play a pivotal role in determining the social and cultural traits of its people. It also helps in determining the trading nature of a community to some extent. From a look at the physical features of India, it is clear that no other country in the world is better marked out by nature as a region by itself than India. Protected by the high Himalayan ranges in the north and sea-girt in the south, it would seem that India would remain in its natural isolation, cut-off from the rest of the world. Yet various archaeological artefacts and the literary evidence point at thriving trade relationships with foreign countries that started from the proto-historic Harappan era. India has always been a trading nation offering to the world its much-treasured commodities such as spices, steel, jewels, medicinal drugs, perfumes, and fine cotton.