Editing Trade (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
During the [[Middle Ages]], commerce developed in Europe by trading [[luxury goods]] at trade fairs. Wealth became converted into movable wealth or [[Capital (economics)|capital]]. Banking systems developed where money on account was transferred across national boundaries. Hand-to-hand markets became a feature of town life and were regulated by town authorities.

Western Europe established a complex and expansive trade network with cargo ships being the main carrier of goods; [[Cog (ship)| cogs]] and [[Hulk (medieval ship type)| hulks]] are two examples of such cargo ships.<ref>{{Cite book |last =McGrail |first =Sean |title =Boats of the World : From the Stone Age to Medieval Times |publisher =Oxford University Press |year =2001 |location =Oxford, England}}</ref> Many ports would develop their own extensive trade networks. The English port city of [[Bristol]] traded with peoples from Iceland, all along the western coast of France, and south to present-day Spain.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Medieval England |last=Poole |first=Austin Lane |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1958 |location=Oxford}}</ref>[[File:Late Medieval Trade Routes.jpg|thumb|upright=2.05|A map showing the main [[trade route]]s for goods within [[Late Middle Ages|late-medieval Europe]]]]

During the Middle Ages, Central Asia was the economic center of the world.<ref name="Beckwith2011_xxiv">[[#Beckwith2011|Beckwith (2011)]], p.&nbsp;xxiv.</ref> The [[Sogdiana|Sogdians]] dominated the east–west trade-route known as the [[Silk Road]] from after the 4th century CE until the 8th century CE, with [[Suyab]] and [[Taraz|Talas]] ranking among their main centers in the north. Sogdians functioned as the main [[caravan (travelers)|caravan]] merchants of Central Asia.

From the Middle Ages, the [[maritime republics]], in particular [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]] and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], played a key role in trade in the Mediterranean. From the 11th to the late-15th centuries, the [[Venetian Republic]] and the [[Republic of Genoa]] were major trade-centers. They dominated trade in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, maintaining a trading monopoly between Europe and the Near East for centuries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Italian Trade Cities {{!}} Western Civilization |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/italian-trade-cities/#:~:text=The%20main%20trade%20routes%20from,and%20then%20resold%20throughout%20Europe. |access-date=2021-11-02 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com|archive-date=2021-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102035722/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/italian-trade-cities/#:~:text=The%20main%20trade%20routes%20from,and%20then%20resold%20throughout%20Europe. |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Genoa, Rival to Venice |url=https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/history-of-genoa-rival-to-venice/ |access-date=2021-11-02 |website=Odyssey Traveller |language=en|archive-date=2021-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102035723/https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/history-of-genoa-rival-to-venice/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

From the 8th to the 11th centuries, the [[Viking]]s and [[Varangians]] traded as they sailed from and to Scandinavia. Vikings sailed to Western Europe, while [[Route from the Varangians to the Greeks | Varangians travelled]] to [[Kievan Rus'|Kyivan Rus']] and to the Black and Caspian Seas. The [[Hanseatic League]], an alliance of trading cities, maintained a trade [[monopoly]] over most of [[Northern Europe]] and the [[Baltic region|Baltic]] between the 13th and 17th centuries.