A HISTORY OF COMMERCE BY CLIVE DAY, Ph.D. KNOX PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN YALE UNIVERSITY _REVISED AND ENLARGED_ LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON TORONTO, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 1925 _Copyright, 1907, by_ LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. _Copyright, 1914, by_ LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. _Copyright, 1922, by_ LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. First Edition, May, 1907 Reprinted, April, 1908; June, 1909; August, 1910 August, 1912 New Edition, June, 1914 Reprinted, February, 1916; April, 1917 August, 1919 September, 1920 August, 1921 New Edition thoroughly revised, September, 1922 Reprinted, February, 1923; January, 1924, May, 1925 MADE IN THE UNITED STATES To E. L. D. PREFACE The year 1914 marks one of the great turning points in history. I have accordingly revised the part of this book covering the recent period to close the narrative at that date, and have added another part, covering the history of commerce in the war and in the two or three years of peace immediately following. The commerce of the great nations of the world has departed since 1914 far from its accustomed paths and forms. In my attempt to make intelligible the commercial changes of the time I have had to take account of matters in public finance, currency and foreign exchange which are usually treated apart from the history of international trade. I have thought it better, by touching on these outside subjects, to show the reasons for the course which commerce has followed, rather than to omit the reasons because they are hard for the student of the history of commerce to understand. CLIVE DAY CONTENTS PART I ANCIENT COMMERCE CHAPTER PAGE I. GENERAL CONDITIONS 1 II. ORIENTAL PERIOD 9 III. GREEK PERIOD 17 IV. ROMAN PERIOD 26 PART II MEDIEVAL COMMERCE V. CONDITIONS ABOUT THE YEAR 1000 31 VI. TOWN TRADE 41 VII. LAND TRADE 54 VIII. FAIRS 63 IX. SEA TRADE 70 X. THE LEVANT TRADE 79 XI. COMMERCE OF SOUTHERN EUROPE 90 XII. COMMERCE OF NORTHERN EUROPE 102 XIII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL ORGANIZATION OF COMMERCE 113 XIV. COMMERCE AND POLITICS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 123 PART III MODERN COMMERCE XV. EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY 128