I was wondering if in recorded history, there was a respectable people who were doing well, yet refused to trade with other peoples.
Because in all of history, it is clear that trade is always of the upmost importance, yet I don't see many examples of anyone refusing to trade. I'm sure there must be some group out there who refused to trade for whatever reason, and I was wondering how they did.
China refused to trade with Britain for anything other than silver for a while and since Britain wanted Tea (this being prior to the establishment of the tea plantations in India) and didn't want to spend all their silver getting it, Britain went to war with China in order to import Opium and sell it in exchange for Tea and other stuffs.
The Chinese were certainly successful prior to this in their own minds, they rejected imported British goods, such as Wedgewood pottery, in the confidence that their own internally produced goods were superior.