Preview

History of Barter System

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
669 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
History of Barter System
Barter system

Barter system is an age-old method that was adopted by people to exchange their services and goods. This system was used for centuries, before the invention of money. People used to exchange the goods or services for other goods or services in return. Nowadays, barter services has staged a comeback with the advent of more sophisticated techniques that aid trading through the Internet. During ancient times, barter system was a local phenomenon, which involved people in the same locality. However, today barter system has become global. You can now negotiate with the opposite party, regarding the value of the item you want to barter and vice versa. The advantage of bartering is that it does not involve money. You can buy an item in exchange for some other thing you current .The barter system was one of the earliest forms of trading. History of barter system It facilitated exchange of goods and services, as money was not invented in those times. The history of bartering can be traced back to 6000 BC. It is believed that barter system was introduced by the tribes of Mesopotamia. This system was then adopted by the Phoenicians, who bartered their goods to people in other cities located across the oceans. An improved system of bartering was developed in Babylonia too. People used to exchange their goods for weapons, tea, spices, and food items. Sometimes, even human skulls were used for barter. Another popular item used for exchange was salt. Salt was so valuable at that time, that the salary of Roman soldiers was paid in salt. The main drawback of this system was that there was no standard criteria to determine the value of goods and services, and this resulted in disputes and clashes. These problems were sorted out with the invention of money, but the barter system continued to exist in some form or another.

The Europeans started traveling across the globe during the Middle Ages and used barter services to trade

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Europeans transformed earlier patterns of commerce by participating in new networks of exchange, such as the silver trade. This trade network “gave birth to a genuinely global network of exchange” (679) by connecting many parts of the world. The silver trade was also the “first direct and sustained link between the Americas and Asia” (680). Europeans, specifically the Portuguese and the Spanish, also assimilated into older patterns by attempting to participate in (and control) a major trade network: the Indian Ocean commerce.…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    World History Unit 3 Summary

    • 2571 Words
    • 11 Pages

    * Triangular trade: The rianglular trade developed form the Columbian Exchange that links Africa, the New World, and Europe by trade. Both Europe and the New world were transformed as a result of the Age of Exploration and the exchanges that…

    • 2571 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    IV. The new global circulation of goods was facilitated by royal chartered European monopoly companies that took silver from Spanish colonies in the Americas to purchase Asian goods for the Atlantic markets, but regional markets continued to flourish in Afro-Eurasia by using established commercial practices and new transoceanic shipping services developed by European merchants.…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After Christopher Columbus’s voyage in the 15th and 16th century The Columbian Exchange started which was the trade of food, animals, and different resources between the new world and old world. The new world was affected more by the Columbian Exchange because of the introduction of tobacco, diseases, and horses.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 600s to the 1450s, trading was mostly done by land. There were long-distance trading occurring then, but not as much sea travel and ocean trade routes as in the 1450s to 1750s time period. The post-classical period (600-1450) included the long-distance trade from the European to the African kingdoms. However, there wasn’t any constant trading happening between the eastern and western hemisphere. On the other side, during the time frame after this (1450-1750), trading was constant with the western and eastern hemispheres now connected by sea-based travel. World trade patterns where happening due to the Atlantic Ocean trade eventually crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Trading began with small items and grew to even humans, slaves. Trade routes influenced the cultures and belief systems back then also. Connections between different people brought both positive and negative effects. Technology also improved because of necessary traveling items.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aztec Civilization DBQ

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Inca trade system was mainly dependant on roads. These roads were a way to transport goods, by spreading them throughout the empire. (Document 3) The Aztec marketplaces were marvels by the way they worked. They worked, by certain merchandise being sold in particular quarters or streets. Also these markets had items sold by units, not weight, and there were magistrates that punished delinquents, and decided controversies. (Document 7) Lastly, the Mayan trade system, was unique in its ways. The Mayan trade system consisted of mainly barter, with the most commonly traded items being obsidian, jade, cacao, and tropical bird feathers. (Document…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Columbian Exchange was the trading of goods, people, and ideas between continents in the times of exploration. The exchange took place between the New Word and Europe in the 15th century to the 16th century. It was caused by exploration and the increased need for materials within the continents. The settlers sent corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, beans, and tobacco from the Americas to Europe. From Europe to the Americas, the people sent wheat, rice, oats, barley, guns, horses, cattle, pigs, coffee beans, grapes, bananas, and sugarcane.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Econ 545 Paper 2

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The system of trading goods and service has been a part of civilizations since BC. The option to sell or buy an item or service has been very profitable as well. For example in the early 1800s when the New World discovered that coffee beans from South America were an awesome good to have. Even with the traditional substitute of tea being what the New World was accustom to, we bought tons coffee beans. With that being established, free trade was key in this process. Absolute and comparative advantage became the foundation of the trade market.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Europeans traded with Asians long before the Early Modern World. The Crusades introduced Europeans to many luxury goods from Asia, carried on complex overland routes through the Mongol empire. The trading center of the world was the Mediterranean Sea which was a link between three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. The Black Death and the breakup of the Mongol empire disrupted the trade. By the 1400s, though, Europe’s population was growing, along with the demand for trade…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Mediterranean Sea had been the focus of European trade with other parts of the world for over 2000 years. In fact, until about the year 1500, the Atlantic Ocean had been a barrier, for Europeans. After 1492, this focus shifted to the Atlantic Ocean by routes south around the Cape of Good Hope, and by trans-Atlantic trade. European discoveries of new land meant an increase in commercial activity of the society from which the discoverer comes. Until then, most trading and manufacturing originated from Asia. The opening of the Atlantic introduced more sources and markets having a positive effect on European commerce. On a more specific level, the role of internal commerce in France, England, and the Spanish kingdoms exponentially. As Europeans recovered from the shock of the plague, the part of commerce and industry in the economy started to grow, particularly during the fifteenth century. This had…

    • 1894 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Currency is defined as circulation as a medium of exchange, a common article for bartering, or paper money in circulation. Dating back to as early as 950 B.C., gift exchange was a glorified practice by the wealthy social class. Native Americans adopted a form of this barter system, which was modified by colonists into one of the earliest forms of banking in America. The most popular form of currency among Native Americans was small beads made from clam shells, called wampum. The word "wampum" comes from the Narragansett word for white shell beads. It was widely used for an informal money system, storytelling, a memory aid, and record keeping. Other uses included marriage ceremonies and in some cases, for religious purposes.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    USH notes

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Columbian exchange - when Spanish came in they brought euro things into Americas and brought American things back into Europe…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Columbian Exchange began with Christopher Columbus. Trying to reach the East Indies by going west he landed on what is present day Bahamas. Finding Native People there he called them Indians. (Believing he reached India.) Returning to Europe news spread fast about this New World. Exploration to the West soon started after this. The trade between Europeans and Native Americans is known as the Columbian Exchange.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas were bound to find a way to interact eventually. Because of proximity, there would come a time when an explorer from Europe would discover the Americas. When this happened a time of major exploration and trade began. The Middle Passage and Columbian Exchange also was bound to happen when the Europeans noticed that it was an excellent way to make more money.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Continuities Of Trade

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Trade has been practiced since the beginning of time and is traced back to the early civilizations of Earth. It is a method of buying and selling to gain wealth and resources necessary for survival. When trade caused European pioneers to explore the rest of the world around them, they found the Americas. Then, they realized that the indigenous people of the New World had resources that the settlers needed so together the two communities bartered. Later on, trade branched out and became a system between the Americas and other countries like those in Africa and Europe.…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays