A history of commerce

by Clive Day

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]
XVI.	Development of the Economic Organization	[139]
XVII.	Credit and Crises	[150]
XVIII.	The Modern State and the Mercantile System	[161]
XIX.	Spain and Portugal	[174]
XX.	The Netherlands	[190]
XXI.	England: Survey of Commercial Development	[199]
XXII.	England: Exports	[209]
XXIII.	England: Imports; Shipping; Policy	[219]
XXIV.	France: Survey of Commercial Development	[229]
XXV.	France: Policy	[242]
XXVI.	The German States	[250]
XXVII.	Italy and Minor States	[263]
PART IV
RECENT COMMERCE
XXVIII.	Commerce and Coal	[270]
XXIX.	Machinery and Manufactures	[280]
XXX.	Roads and Railroads	[290]
XXXI.	Means of Navigation and Communication	[302]
XXXII.	The Wares of Commerce	[317]
XXXIII.	The Modern Organization	[329]
XXXIV.	Commercial Policy	[345]
XXXV.	England: Commercial Development, 1800-1850	[357]
XXXVI.	England: Reform of Commercial Policy	[368]
XXXVII.	England: Commercial Development, 1850-1914	[376]
XXXVIII.	England: Pre-War Problems	[386]
XXXIX.	German States	[400]
XL.	Germany Under the Empire	[408]
XLI.	France	[422]
XLII.	Minor States of Central and Northern Europe	[431]
XLIII.	States of Southern Europe	[442]
XLIV.	Eastern Europe	[454]
PART V
UNITED STATES
XLV.	Organization of Production, 1789	[469]
XLVI.	Internal Trade and Foreign Commerce, 1789	[485]
XLVII.	Commerce and Policy, 1789-1815	[498]
XLVIII.	National Expansion, 1815-1860	[511]
XLIX.	Exports, 1815-1860	[530]
L.	Imports, Policy, Direction of Commerce, 1815-1860	[540]
LI.	National Development, 1860-1914	[552]
LII.	Exports, 1860-1914	[566]
LIII.	Imports, Policy, Direction of Commerce, 1860-1914	[578]
PART VI
WORLD WAR
LIV.	Commerce and the World War, 1914-1918	[593]
LV.	United Kingdom, 1914-1920	[607]
LVI.	France and the Problem of Reparations	[622]
LVII.	Central and Eastern Europe, 1914-1920	[634]
LVIII.	United States, 1914-1920	[648]
	Index	[671]

LIST OF MAPS
NO.		PAGE
1.	The Ancient World (colored)	Facing	[9]
2.	Roman Roads in Southern Britain		[28]
3.	Tolls on the River Loire		[58]
4.	The Fairs of Champagne		[66]
5.	Trade Routes between Asia and Europe		[85]
6.	The Venetian Empire		[91]
7.	Trade Routes between Germany and Italy		[94]
8.	The Hanseatic Commercial Empire about 1400		[106]
9.	Commercial Geography of Europe about 1250		[108]
10.	Trade Relations of a German Merchant about 1400		[114]
11.	A Medieval Map of the World The Laurentian Portolano of 1351. Reproduced by permission from Beazley’s “Prince Henry, the Navigator,” (Putnams).	Facing	[129]
12.	Discoveries of the Portuguese		[131]
13.	Map of the Known World in the Time of Columbus		[132]
14.	European Powers in America (colored)	Facing	[166]
15.	The Spanish Monarchy		[175]
16.	European Powers in the East about 1700		[193]
17.	Spheres of Trade of English Companies in the Early Seventeenth Century		[203]
18.	The French Colonial Empire		[237]
19.	Germany in the Eighteenth Century		[251]
20.	Italy, 1515		[263]
21.	Waterways of North Central Europe		[294]
22.	Growth of the European Railroads		[298]
23.	The British Empire, 1902 (colored)	Facing	[362]
24.	Development of the German Zollverein		[403]
25.	The Trans-Siberian Railroad		[463]
26.	North America in 1782		[470]
27.	United States, Acquisition of Territory, 1783-1853		[513]
28.	River Transportation in 1860		[517]
29.	Canals of the United States	Facing	[520]
30.	Railroads, 1830-1850		[524]
31.	Railroads, 1850-1860		[525]
32.	Products of the United States		[568]
33.	Course of Steamship Lines in 1880		[587]

A HISTORY OF COMMERCE

PART I.—ANCIENT COMMERCE

CHAPTER I
GENERAL CONDITIONS

1. The purposes of commerce.—The reader will follow more intelligently the history of commerce if he will stop a moment at the start to consider the purposes of commerce and the difficulties which must be overcome if it is to be successfully carried on.