Pre-Industrial

A speculative bubble in Dutch tulip bulb prices that collapsed in February 1637. At its peak, single...

The worlds first official stock exchange, established by the Dutch East India Company in 1602. The V...

Founded in 1698 when John Castaing began posting stock and commodity prices at Jonathans Coffee Hous...

The gradual reduction of silver content in Roman coins contributed to economic decline. The denarius...

The VOC was the first multinational corporation and the first to issue public stock. It paid an aver...

The British East India Company was originally a trading company that evolved into a de facto colonia...

The Fugger family of Augsburg was the wealthiest banking dynasty of the Renaissance. Jacob Fugger th...

The Medici Bank, founded in 1397, was the most respected bank in Renaissance Europe. Under Cosimo de...

The Knights Templar developed an early international banking system during the Crusades. Pilgrims co...

Modern economic historians have revised the traditional tulip mania narrative. The most extreme pric...

The Antwerp Bourse, established in 1531, was the first purpose built building for trading securities...

A tontine is a financial instrument where participants contribute to a pool, and as members die, the...

Marine insurance emerged in the coffee houses of London in the late 17th century. Edward Lloyds coff...