Editing Commerce (section)

==History==
[[File:Caduceus.svg|thumb|upright=0.45|The [[caduceus]] – used today as the symbol of commerce,<ref>Hans Biedermann, James Hulbert (trans.), ''Dictionary of Symbolism - Cultural Icons and the Meanings behind Them'', p. 54.</ref> and traditionally associated with the Roman god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], patron of commerce, trickery and thieves]]

Historian [[Peter Watson (business writer)|Peter Watson]] and Ramesh Manickam date the [[History of international trade|history of long-distance commerce]] from [[Wiktionary:circa|circa]] 150,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite book | author = Watson, Peter | title = Ideas : A History of Thought and Invention from Fire to Freud | publisher = HarperCollins | year = 2005| isbn = 0-06-621064-X}} Introduction.</ref> In historic times, the introduction of [[currency]] as a standardized [[money]] facilitated the exchange of goods and services.<ref>{{cite book | author= Davies, Glyn | title = Ideas: A history of money from ancient times to the present day | publisher = University of Wales Press | year = 2002| isbn = 0-7083-1717-0}}</ref>

Commerce was a costly endeavor in the antiquities because of the risky nature of transportation, which restricted it to local markets. Commerce then expanded along with the improvement of transportation systems over time. In the Middle Ages, long-distance and large-scale commerce was still limited within continents. [[Banking system]]s developed in medieval Europe, facilitating financial transactions across national boundaries.<ref name="Howell2010">{{cite book |author=[[Martha C. Howell]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKhZTqkqfkEC |title=Commerce Before Capitalism in Europe, 1300-1600 |date=12 April 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76046-1}}</ref> [[Marketplace|Market]]s became a feature of town life, and were regulated by town authorities.<ref name="Braudel1982">
{{cite book
|author= Fernand Braudel
|title= Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century: The wheels of commerce
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WPDbSXQsvGIC
|year= 1982|publisher= University of California Press
|isbn= 978-0-520-08115-4|page= 30
|quote= Taken over by towns, the markets grew apace with them.
}}
</ref> With the advent of the [[Age of Discovery]] and oceangoing ships, commerce took an international, trans-continental stature.

Currently the reliability of international trans-oceanic shipping and mailing systems and the facility of the Internet has made commerce possible between cities, regions and countries situated anywhere in the world. In the 21st century, Internet-based [[electronic commerce]] (where financial information is transferred over Internet), and its subcategories such as wireless [[mobile commerce]] and [[social network]]-based [[social commerce]] have been and continue to get adopted widely.