Trade

Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.

Traders generally negotiate through a medium of credit or exchange, such as money. Though some economists characterize

Commerce is derived from the Latin commercium, from cum "together" and merx, "merchandise."^[8]

Trade originated from

In the Mediterranean region, the earliest contact between cultures involved members of the species Homo sapiens, principally using the Danube river, at a time beginning 35,000–30,000 BP.^{[10][11][12][13][need quotation to verify]}

There is evidence of the exchange of obsidian and flint during the Stone Age. Trade in obsidian is believed to have taken place in New Guinea from 17,000 BCE.^[15][16]

The earliest use of obsidian in the Near East dates to the Lower and Middle paleolithic.^[17]

— HIH Prince Mikasa no Miya Takahito

Robert Carr Bosanquet investigated trade in the Stone Age by excavations in 1901.^[18][19] The first clear archaeological evidence of trade in manufactured goods is found in south west Asia.^[20][21]

Archaeological evidence of obsidian use provides data on how this material was increasingly the preferred choice rather than chert from the late Mesolithic to Neolithic, requiring exchange as deposits of obsidian are rare in the Mediterranean region.^[22][23][24]

Obsidian provided the material to make cutting utensils or tools, although since other more easily obtainable materials were available, use was exclusive to the higher status of the tribe using "the rich man's flint".^[25] Interestingly, Obsidian has held its value relative to flint.

Early traders traded Obsidian at distances of 900 kilometres within the Mediterranean region.^[26]

Trade in the Mediterranean during the Neolithic of Europe was greatest in this material.

The Sari-i-Sang mine in the mountains of Afghanistan was the largest source for trade of lapis lazuli.^[33][34] The material was most largely traded during the Kassite period of Babylonia beginning 1595 BCE.^[35][36]

Adam Smith traces the origins of commerce to the very start of

The earliest evidence of writing in is deeply bound up in trade, as a system of clay tokens used for accounting – found in Upper Euphrates valley in Syria dated to the 10th millennium BCE – is one of the earliest versions of writing.

Ebla was a prominent trading center during the third millennia BCE, with a network reaching into Anatolia and north Mesopotamia.^{[32][37][38][39]}

Materials used for creating

The complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir, dated 1750 BCE, documents the tribulations of a copper merchant at the time.

From the beginning of Greek

In ancient Greece Hermes was the god of trade^[44][45] (commerce) and weights and measures.^[46] In ancient Rome, Mercurius was the god of merchants, whose festival was celebrated by traders on the 25th day of the fifth month.^[47][48] The concept of free trade was an antithesis to the will and economic direction of the sovereigns of the ancient Greek states. Free trade between states was stifled by the need for strict internal controls (via taxation) to maintain security within the treasury of the sovereign, which nevertheless enabled the maintenance of a modicum of civility within the structures of functional community life.^[49][50]

The fall of the Roman empire and the succeeding

The first true maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean was by the

The emergence of exchange networks in the Pre-Columbian societies of and near to Mexico are known to have occurred within recent years before and after 1500 BCE.^[62]

Trade networks reached north to Oasisamerica. There is evidence of established maritime trade with the cultures of northwestern South America and the Caribbean.

During the Middle Ages, commerce developed in Europe by trading luxury goods at trade fairs. Wealth became converted into movable wealth or capital. Banking systems developed where money on account was transferred across national boundaries. Hand to hand markets became a feature of town life and were regulated by town authorities.

Western Europe established a complex and expansive trade network with cargo ships being the main carrier of goods; Cogs and Hulks are two examples of such cargo ships.^[63] Many ports would develop their own extensive trade networks. The English port city of Bristol traded with peoples from what is modern day Iceland, all along the western coast of France, and down to what is now Spain.^[64]

During the Middle Ages, Central Asia was the economic center of the world.

From the Middle Ages, the

Founded in 1352, the Bengal Sultanate was a major trading nation in the world and often referred to by Europeans as the wealthiest country with which to trade.^[69]

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese gained an economic advantage in the Kingdom of Kongo due to different philosophies of trade.^[68] Whereas Portuguese traders concentrated on the accumulation of capital, in Kongo spiritual meaning was attached to many objects of trade. According to economic historian Toby Green, in Kongo "giving more than receiving was a symbol of spiritual and political power and privilege."^[68]

In the 16th century, the

The Great Depression was a major economic recession that ran from 1929 to the late 1930s. During this period, there was a great drop in trade and other economic indicators.

The lack of free trade was considered by many as a principal cause of the depression causing stagnation and inflation.

The European Union became the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods and services, the biggest export market for around 80 countries.^[73]

Today, trade is merely a subset within a complex system of

Free trade is a policy by which a government does not discriminate against imports or exports by applying tariffs or subsidies. This policy is also known as laissez-faire policy. This kind of policy does not necessarily imply because a country will then abandon all control and taxation of imports and exports.^[74]

Free trade advanced further in the late 20th century and early 2000s:

• 1992
  labour
  .
• January 1, 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect.
• 1994 The GATT
  Marrakech Agreement
  specified formation of the WTO.
• January 1, 1995
  most favored nation
  trading status between all signatories.
• EC was transformed into the European Union, which accomplished the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 2002, through introducing the Euro, and creating this way a real single market between 13 member states as of January 1, 2007.

• Central American Free Trade Agreement

  was signed; It includes the United States and the Dominican Republic.

Protectionism is the policy of restraining and discouraging trade between states and contrasts with the policy of free trade. This policy often takes the form of tariffs and restrictive quotas. Protectionist policies were particularly prevalent in the 1930s, between the Great Depression and the onset of World War II.

Islamic teachings encourage trading (and condemn usury or interest).^[75][76]

The first instances of money were objects with intrinsic value. This is called commodity money and includes any commonly available commodity that has intrinsic value; historical examples include pigs, rare seashells, whale's teeth, and (often) cattle. In medieval Iraq, bread was used as an early form of money. In the Aztec Empire, under the rule of Montezuma cocoa beans became legitimate currency.^[79]

Currency was introduced as standardised money to facilitate a wider exchange of goods and services. This first stage of currency, where metals were used to represent stored value, and symbols to represent commodities, formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years.

Numismatists have examples of coins from the earliest large-scale societies, although these were initially unmarked lumps of precious metal.^[80]

The Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations aimed to lower

Beginning around 1978, the government of the

The reforms proved spectacularly successful in terms of increased output, variety, quality, price and demand. In real terms, the economy doubled in size between 1978 and 1986, doubled again by 1994, and again by 2003. On a real per capita basis, doubling from the 1978 base took place in 1987, 1996 and 2006. By 2008, the economy was 16.7 times the size it was in 1978, and 12.1 times its previous per capita levels. International trade progressed even more rapidly, doubling on average every 4.5 years. Total two-way trade in January 1998 exceeded that for all of 1978; in the first quarter of 2009, trade exceeded the full-year 1998 level. In 2008, China's two-way trade totaled US$2.56 trillion.^[83]

In 1991 China joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, a trade-promotion forum.^[84] In 2001, it also joined the World Trade Organization.^[85]

Part of a series on
World trade
Policy Import Export Balance of trade Trade law Trade pact Trade bloc Trade creation Trade diversion Export orientation Import substitution Trade finance Trade facilitation Trade route Domestic trade Tax
Restrictions Trade barriers Tariffs Non-tariff barriers Import quotas Tariff-rate quotas Import licenses Customs duties Export subsidies Technical barriers Bribery Exchange rate controls Embargo Safeguards Countervailing duties Anti-dumping duties Voluntary export restraints
History Mercantilism Protectionism Laissez-faire Free trade Economic nationalism Economic integration
Organizations International Monetary Fund International Trade Centre World Trade Organization World Customs Organization International Chamber of Commerce
Economic integration Preferential trading area Free-trade area Currency union Customs union Single market Economic union Fiscal union Customs and monetary union Economic and monetary union
Issues Intellectual property rights Smuggling Competition policy Government procurement Outsourcing Globalization Fair trade Trade justice Emissions trading Trade sanctions War Currency war Trade costs Trade war Trade and development
Lists Imports Exports Tariffs Largest consumer markets Leading trade partners
By country Trade mission Trading nation United States Argentina Pakistan Romania Vietnam India
Theory Comparative advantage Competitive advantage Heckscher–Ohlin model New trade theory Economic geography Intra-industry trade Gravity model of trade Ricardian trade theories Balassa–Samuelson effect Linder hypothesis Leontief paradox Lerner symmetry theorem Terms of trade
v t e

Empirical evidence for the success of trade can be seen in the contrast between countries such as South Korea, which adopted a policy of export-oriented industrialization, and India, which historically had a more closed policy. South Korea has done much better by economic criteria than India over the past fifty years, though its success also has to do with effective state institutions.^[86]

• Commerce
• Business
• Economics

Bibliography

• ISBN 978-0-691-15034-5
  .
• ISBN 978-0-8021-4416-4
  .
• Davies, Glyn (2002) [1995]. Ideas: A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day. Cardiff:
  ISBN 978-0-7083-1773-0
  .
• Nomani, Farhad; Rahnema, Ali (1994). Islamic Economic Systems. New Jersey: Zed Books.
  ISBN 978-1-85649-058-0
  .
• Paine, Lincoln (2013). The Sea and Civilisation: a Maritime History of the World. Atlantic. (Covers sea-trading over the whole world from ancient times)
• Rössner, Philipp, Economy / Trade, EGO – European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2017, retrieved: March 8, 2021 (pdf).
• ISBN 978-0-06-621064-3
  .

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Trade.

Look up trade in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Media related to Trading at Wikimedia Commons
• Agritrade Resource material on trade by ACP countries
• World Bank's World Integrated Trade Solution provides summary trade statistics and custom query features
• World Bank's Preferential Trade Agreement Database