Editing Investment (section)

== History ==
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Investments can be traced back to as early as 1700 BCE during the Code of Hammurabi. For the more modern type of investing that we have today, the 17th century is pointed to as the start. The shipping industry started to become very popular, and British, Dutch and French boats would travel to Asia, transporting goods. Since these travels were dangerous by waters, ship owners looked for investors to fund their travels. In return, the investors would redeem some of the profits when the boats returned.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Evolution of Investment: A Deep Dive into the History of Investing - Leamington Spa IFA |url=https://www.leamingtonifa.co.uk/financial-guides/history-of-investing/ |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=www.leamingtonifa.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The start of a stock exchange can be contributed to Amsterdam in 1602 known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The first company to go public was Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, and that founded the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. It became so large, the government had to facilitate trade. Amsterdam had an Exchange bank, used for making stock market transactions easier, and they had a merchant bank, used to for a regulated place for merchants to trade both being reason for Amsterdam being a world center of trade and capital.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-01-31 |title=400 years: the story |url=https://www.beursgeschiedenis.nl/en/the-story/ |access-date=2025-05-01 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The start of the stock market in America can be traced back to May 17, 1792, when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed, setting rules for how stocks can be traded, and aimed to ensure that deals were done between trusted parties. A few years prior, the Compromise of 1790, allowed Alexander Hamilton to use a policy to pay off Revolutionary War debts, using federally issued Bonds, making the first market exchange in America. In 1817, the stock market created an official organization and a board, the New York Stock and Exchange Board. They would meet two times a day and trade 30 different stocks and bonds. The stock exchange rapidly grew, and by the end of the Civil War in 1865, more than 300 stocks and bonds were traded.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History of NYSE |url=https://www.nyse.com/history-of-nyse |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=www.nyse.com |language=en}}</ref>