Commerce

Commerce is the exchange of goods and services, especially on a large scale.[1]

This article is about the business concept. For other uses, see Commerce (disambiguation).
Portrait of 16th century merchant Georg Gisze

Etymology

The English-language word commerce has been derived from the Latin word commercium, from com ("together") and merx ("merchandise").[2]

History
The caduceus - used today as the symbol of commerce,[3] and traditionally associated with the Roman god Mercury, patron of commerce, trickery and thieves.

Historian Peter Watson and Ramesh Manickam date the history of long-distance commerce from circa 150,000 years ago.[4]

In historic times, the introduction of currency as a standardized money facilitated the exchange of goods and services.[5]

Banking systems developed in medieval Europe, facilitating financial transactions across national boundaries.[6] Markets became a feature of town life, and were regulated by town authorities.[7]

See also

References
  1. "commerce". English: Oxford Living Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. n.d. Retrieved December 11, 2018. 1 The activity of buying and selling, especially on a large scale.
  2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Commerce" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 766.
  3. Hans Biedermann, James Hulbert (trans.), Dictionary of Symbolism - Cultural Icons and the Meanings behind Them, p. 54.
  4. Watson, Peter (2005). Ideas : A History of Thought and Invention from Fire to Freud. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-621064-X. Introduction......./
  5. Davies, Glyn (2002). Ideas: A history of money from ancient times to the present day. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1717-0.
  6. Martha C. Howell (12 April 2010). Commerce Before Capitalism in Europe, 1300-1600. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-76046-1.
  7. Fernand Braudel (1982). Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century: The wheels of commerce. University of California Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-520-08115-4. Taken over by towns, the markets grew apace with them.
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