Why did the eastern hemisphere develop long-distance trade more extensively than did the societies of the western hemisphere?

The Eastern Hemisphere had many advantages over the Western Hemisphere, one of them being its west/east orientation in comparison to the West's north/south orientation. Having a north/south orientation impeded the different civilizations from the West from interacting with each other because of the changing geographic obstacles and climates causing it to be hard to move and adapt to these distinct climates and vegetation while travelling for long distances. This is evident just looking at a map of the climatic zones down the Americas which shows a variance from dry and cool up north to humid and hot in the south also including areas of hot, dry deserts. The geographic obstacle that caused the greatest trouble among north-American merchants wanting to trade with south-Americans would be the humid rainforests in the narrow bottleneck of Panama, which is what connects them. This problem was not seen in the West because with a west/east orientation it is much easier for travelers and merchants because there are no drastic climatic or vegetational changes, meaning that it was all familiar and easy for them to traverse. Also, the lack of animals such as camels, oxen, and horses was a setback as was the lack of oceanic vessels(which were available in the West)