Page "Commercial Revolution" Paragraph 29

Historian Fernand Braudel suggests that in Cairo in the 11th century Muslim and Jewish merchants had already set up every form of trade association and had knowledge of every method of credit and payment, disproving the belief that these were invented later by Italians.

In 12th century France the courratiers de change were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks.

Because these men also traded with debts, they could be called the first brokers.

In late 13th century Bruges commodity traders gathered inside the house of a man called Van der Beurse, and in 1309 they became the " Bruges Beurse ", institutionalizing what had been, until then, an informal meeting.

The idea quickly spread around Flanders and neighboring counties and " Beurzen " soon opened in Ghent and Amsterdam.