When was commerce established

We can now see that civilized man is never satisfied because no sooner is a want supplied than other ones take its place, so under this stimuli he goes and achieves conquests.

Thus commerce is one of the ways by which certain people have at different times undertaken to supply their needs and it all started during the time of the ancient empires. And it started on a bigger scale with the Egyptians who have cultivated the arts and sciences and built wonderful monuments. Even though they were considered industrious at home, they were not inclined to go abroad and engage in foreign trade. Not the same can be said for the Arabs and the Greeks because Alexandria became the great commercial metropolis of the world and the Greek have settled there in large numbers after Alexander the Great conquered Phoenicia.

Intelligence and diligence in business helped them discover the art of dyeing purple and writing by means of letters. They were also skilled in casting metals, weaving, architecture and others, with their oared barks they could navigate the coast and trade their own productions like spices, frankincense, oil, wine, wheat and slaves. They also discovered Spain with its riches, all these helped them develop the resources of the country until they were conquered by the Greek empire.

The Greek took the methods of the Pheonicians and due to conquering them also their trade. Thus they became the masters of the Mediterranean Sea and played a great role in elevating the standard of civilization and establishing a system of commerce. Being enterprising people they learned the use of gold and silver as money taken from the Babylonians and used them by stamping coins of both metals in all kinds of sizes and denominations.

This along with conquers in Asia, Africa and part of Italy helped them control half of the commerce in the Mediterranean Sea. But like they took over from the phoenicians, a greater and stronger power claimed leadership about years before Christ because in Italy a new empire was born. For almost five hundred years Rome grew stadily till it was strong enough to wrest the commercial and political supremacy of the Mediterranean from Greece.

The Romans were more warriors than merchants. But the fact that small wars ended and provinces gave their independence for peace lead to unrestricted commerce and trade in all parts of the new empire. Arts and science improved agriculture and thus manufactures spread among them and with them a large number of merchants and tradesmen. Because they were warriors and needed to facilitate their military operations, the Romans started building an extensive system of highways.

Beginning at the Golden Milestone, the central point of the Roman Empire, these roads went in all directions over Italy and reached France, Spain and west Britain, went through the mountains of Epirus and Macedon and to the principal seaports throughout Asia Minor, Palestine and North Africa. These roads remain as important highways of commerce to this day even if they were built for military purposes, in time they became instrumental in fostering and developing commerce as well as civilization in general.

On these roads Rome got its supplies from Athens statuary, cloth , Corinth bronze , Asia Minor carpets, works of art in bronze, gold etc. In the west side of Rome, Spain gave from its mines gold and silver, wool, oil, fruit horses etc. Even though it developed greatly for years, due to corruption, internal dissensions and wars in the middle of the fourth century the Roman power began to decline and with it so did the commerce of the empire.

What came after that was excessive taxation, laws that had no value and the rise of semi-barbarous tribes of hunters and warriors. Moreover the empire was divided in two, a capital in Rome and one in Constantinople, all these along with many waves of migrators destroyed for a period of time the old commerce and civilization. In the next four to five centuries after the fall of Rome there is no trace of important manufactures except on a domestic level.

The one that brings back industry and commerce is the king of the Franks Karl the Great also known as Charlemagne. He made possible the revival of internal and foreign commerce meant to set almost two centuries later. In the Middle Ages commerce developed by trading goods during trade fairs, later to make things easier and save time, wealth was converted into capital and the banking system was developed. What we know today as global commerce began in the 16th century when big trading companies were formed in the main exploring countries like UK, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

These nations traded with each other and because of being explorers they met with other civilizations in Asia and Africa, so naturally the trading route in place expanded by connecting it to the one in place in those countries. Closer to our time trading managed to expand from small stalls in fair and outdoor markets to supermarkets, stores and shopping malls, this type of trading is also known as brick and mortar, we will talk more about it later in the article.

The small sailing ship was to be replaced by steamships and further by railroads to get to planes and cargo vessels nowadays. These new means of transportation changed the face of commerce from a process that could take months to one that can take only hours. In time organizations have been created such as the World Trade Organization which helps control commerce and promote free trade by removing any barriers.

Moreover commerce is interwoven with the government because most countries have a form of organization that makes sure businesses do not monopolize or manipulate the market.

Because every time a person trades something commerce is occuring at a small level and so the standards of living improve and the relations between businesses do too. If early people traded animal skin, shells or beads as currency the development of metal coins originating somewhere between and B. Due to the fact that you could count them, not weighing them made trading easier.

Later gold and silver coins were used to trade and thus nations that had more of certain goods could sell to other countries. Even though at its core commerce is the same, the evolution of technology transformed the way it is perceived. Since then commerce started to include other industries too, like advertising, warehousing, banking, transportation and insurance. Once the Electronic Data Interchange was developed in the groundwork for what we know today as ecommerce was set.

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List of Partners vendors. Commerce is the conduct of trade among economic agents. Generally, commerce refers to the exchange of goods, services, or something of value, between businesses or entities. From a broad perspective, nations are concerned with managing commerce in a way that enhances the well-being of citizens, by providing jobs and producing beneficial goods and services. Commerce has existed from the moment humans started exchanging goods and services with one another. From the early days of bartering to the creation of currencies to the establishment of trade routes, humans have sought ways to exchange goods and services and build a distribution process around the process of doing so.

Today, commerce normally refers to the macroeconomic purchases and sales of goods and services by large organizations at scale. The sale or purchase of a single item by a consumer is defined as a transaction, while commerce refers to all transactions related to the purchase and sale of that item in an economy.

Most commerce is conducted internationally and represents the buying and selling of goods between nations. It is important to note that commerce does not have the same meaning as "business," but rather is a subset of business. Commerce does not relate to the manufacturing or production process of business but only the distribution process of goods and services.

The Domesday Book of lists 50 markets in England alone, but many historians say the number is likely higher. Paper currency was first used by the Chinese during the Tang Dynasty as a form of promissory note, but it took another century or so for it to really catch on and evolve into the kind of currency we know today.

One lure of paper currency was that it was easier to transport than heavy coins or shells. Strategic colonization of islands in the Atlantic, as well as points along the western coasts of Africa and India, and the eastern coast of South America, left Portugal with more control of nautical trade routes than any other nation at that time. At the same time, Spanish industry was undergoing rapid development and riches brought back from the Americas ushered in a golden age of art and literature in Spain.

This wave of European exploration was one of the driving forces in the shift of global power from East to West. As its power grew, so too did the power of its home country, England.

The East India Company was the first institution with what we think of today as a modern corporate structure. In , a new development took place in America: Adam Smith published Wealth of Nations , which popularized many of the foundational ideas of classical economics. England officially adopted the gold standard in , and over the next 80 years the majority of developed nations eventually followed.

The outbreak of World War I marked the beginning of the end for the gold standard due to international instability. England stopped using the gold standard in , and the U.

There are a lot of instances of something like a check being used as far back as Roman times, but checks and credit became widespread as we know them in the United States in the s.

By the s, Americans were writing 28 million checks per day. Credit cards today allow cardholders to carry a monthly balance forward for an added finance charge.

The first appearance of credit cards, in the midth century, was from banker John Biggins, who introduced the Charg-It card.

In , Diners Club released the first widely used card, which was primarily for travel and entertainment purposes. American Express introduced the first plastic card in , replacing cardboard and celluloid. Here is where the history of ecommerce specifically begins.

Electronic Data Interchanges enabled the digital transfer of data, which paved the way for ecommerce businesses once the internet became more widespread in the early s. The first ecommerce transaction is said to be an online sale of a Sting album in Amazon and eBay launched their sites in the mid-nineties, changing online buying forever.

These were some of the first outlets for people to buy things not physically available in a particular geographic area. For example, brick-and-mortar bookstores could stock only around , titles, whereas Amazon could offer exponentially more. By , the Census began requesting ecommerce data as part of the overall economic picture. Most major stores had launched ecommerce shops and small businesses were beginning to develop their own.

Amazon then launched its first mobile commerce site in and introduced Amazon Prime in BigCommerce, Shopify, and other ecommerce platforms began to make online business transactions easier than ever. As more and more people began doing business online, a need for secure communication and transactions became apparent.

The organization was created for the development, enhancement, storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards for protecting customer account data. Mobile commerce was first born in , when two mobile device-enabled Coca-Cola vending were installed in Finland.

Mobile commerce gained speed over the next two decades, as more users began conducting transactions from their mobile devices and websites evolved to provide a better user experiences.

Now, mobile sales are projected to reach 54 percent of all ecommerce sales by Today, both consumers and business buyers turn to mobile devices for product research and coupons, with engagement on social media becoming increasingly popular. Business buyers are expecting more consumer-focused features like personalization and responsive design and demanding the ability to quickly locate product details, secure pricing, and receive online help.

What will shoppers want next? And then there are Millennials, who have disrupted the way ecommerce is done. As part of the self-directed buying process, Millennials will typically shop around a bit and read reviews before making a purchase decision.

To be successful in the current age of ecommerce, sellers need to monitor comments and listen to what shoppers say about their products and customer service. A site with an outdated design will communicate outdated processes, products, and prices to Millennial buyers, hurting your sales and holding back your business. The only thing that is certain is that there will continue to be more changes on the horizon.

Your online store needs to be flexible, adaptable, and scalable enough to meet these changes and future-proof your business for long-term success.

Miva offers a flexible and adaptable ecommerce platform that evolves with businesses and allows them to drive sales, maximize average order value, cut overhead costs, and increase revenue. Miva has been helping businesses realize their ecommerce potential for over 20 years and empowering retail, wholesale, and direct-to-consumer sellers across all industries to transform their business through ecommerce.

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