|
The Crusades The need to transfer large sums of money to finance the Crusades provides a stimulus to the re-emergence of banking in western Europe. |
|
Earliest known foreign exchange contract Two brothers borrow 115 Genoese pounds and agree to reimburse the bank‘s agents in Constantinople the sum of 460 bezants one month after their arrival in that city. In the following century the use of such contracts grows rapidly. |
|
Gold coins are issued by several Italian states Under the influence of Byzantine and Arab coinage Messina and Brindisi (1232), Florence (1252) and Genoa (1253) issue gold coins. The type minted in Florence, the florin, becomes widely copied in other parts of Europe. |
|
Marco Polo lives in China From his subsequent account of his Travels, Europe learns of paper money. |
|
Charging interest on loans is ruled legal in Florence Despite the traditional Christian prohibition of usury, Italian banks, who have agents in the main economic centers of Europe, have been making charges for loans. |
|
Gutenberg invents the modern printing press |
|
Portuguese start voyages along the coast of Africa In the 14th and 15th centuries Europe suffers from a "Great Bullion Famine". This is partially alleviated as the Portuguese open up a new route for sub-Saharan gold via Ghana and Mali |
|
Life of Leonardo da Vinci Among Leonardo‘s drawings are designs for a press to produce coins quickly using a water driven mill. The new money is termed "milled money".. |
|
Fall of Constantinople The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks and the disruption caused to existing trade routes is a motivating factor in the subsequent European voyages of exploration. |
|
China abandons paper money There are no references to paper money being in circulation after this date. Thus after well over 500 years of experience with paper currencies, China ceases to use paper money. |
|
Fuggers Bank founded in Augsburg The increased availability of gold from Africa and later, after the discoveries of Columbus, the Caribbean, raised the relative value of silver. Consequently the Fuggers profited greatly by financing European silver mines. |
|
Columbus discovers America |
|
First book on double entry bookkeeping is published in Italy
|
|
Vasco da Gama reaches India The development of new, long-distance trade routes as a result of the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Columbus stimulates the development of capital and foreign exchange markets, and the use of bills of exchange. |
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||