Birth of stock-market and the operations with titles

The case of tulipanes

Century XVII, Amsterdam became the more important financial seat of the cristiandad. In this market it had excellent importance the hiring of merchandize to by greater, in individual the relative one to bulbs of flowers that were concerned of East and that, for being well rare and precious, they for all time triggered one of the most famous speculations, that took to the ruin to many people. In spite of it, the culture of bulbs received importance for the Dutch economy, assured gains elevated to the cultivators and contributed to develop the activities of the port of Amsterdam, that already at that time was counted between most important of the world. In Amsterdam titles also interchanged, mainly obligations and actions of created the Dutch and English companies for commercial operation of the colonies, like those of the Eastern and western Indians. The operations with titles gave rise to speculation, one of the most fraudulent forms of speculation. The retailers and the agents with more influence were able to sink or to elevate value of certain titles simply spreading hoaxes, like, for example, the death of some important personage or the imminent one outbreak of a war, which triggered the panic between buyers and salesmen. These great speculations confirmed the importance of the actions for the same life of the societies, reason why other countries they followed the example of Amsterdam, giving passage to his own financial markets.

Currency of account and currency of bank

From the monetary reform of Carlomagno in century ix to the French Revolution, in almost all Europe the value of the most common goods one expressed in pounds, unit divided in 20 pays and 240 money. In the history of the economy numerous examples of others are had account currencies, that is not coined, that served to compare the value of the merchandize and the currencies in circulation. In France it calculated in free tournois, England in pounds or pounds sterling, Germany in pfund or mark. The increase of the interchanges intensified the use of the currency, while the mintings of several States fell in the disorder and disorganization. The right to coin currency excessively was distributed between princes, cities Been more or less free, bishops and abbots, kings and Dukes. The great division, the diversity of the units of measurement of weight in different States, the one that each government it made circulate in his territory foreign currencies, all it necessarily impelled to fix to account currency the prices of goods and of the numerous metallic species in circulation. The governments, on the other hand, emitted edictos that established the value in currency of account of all the national and foreign currencies whose circulation was authorized. These values varied specially because of the modifications of the relation of change between gold and silver, had in individual to the fluctuating availability of both metals. of century XVI to the XVII, mainly because of the amounts of precious metals coming from the New World, one went of relation 1 to 10, this is, a gram of gold by silver 1 0, to relation 1 to 14,5. The narrow relations that tied the currencies to each other and monetary markets, were also suffered of the political events. The war of the Thirty Years (1618-1648), for example, that convulsionó Germany and Sweden, caused a deluge of false currencies, and far beyond multiplied the emission of those of nominal value intrinsic, that spread in many European States. The disorder in the currencies began to interest to personalities of science, among them to the great astronomer Nicholas Copérnico (1473-1543), who dedicated itself to the reform of the monetary system of the Polish States. All the operations of stock market were developed in account currency, whereas the banking operations relied on the bank currency. The banks, turned more and more important references for the operators, made use of this currency hers individual to register the income and the reintegros of the clients, who could become in currencies of diverse types, including the worn away ones by the use or by intervention of those who scraped them deliberately.

The cards to make accounts

The retailers, forced to carry out more and more difficult calculations, used diverse methods to make them easier. One of the pluses peculiar one goes back to the Dutch mercantile tradition. From aims of century XIV at the end of the Xvili, retailers, banks, State Treasury, religious and commercial moneychangers and Dutch institutions used as cards for the call calculation of lines: a species of abacus with that they were able to make the four elementary rules quickly. As rules of work were used a flat surface (a cloth, a board or a table) in which were drawn up parallel lines and equidistant. The lines that followed one another of down above represented the units, the tens, the hundreds and the thousands. In order to limit the maximum number of cards by line to four, was agreed upon which the free space upon each line corresponded to quíntuplo of the value numerical of the inferior line. This method, that can seem complicated but that, in fact, is very practitioner, was not original: already in the antiquity calculated with stone or bone cards. In Holland they were coined in the official mints using copper alloys, tin and bronze. When not being tie to official simbologías, the images coined in Dutch cards provide the precious news on the life daily. The scenes of harvest and sowing, or the representations of several offices are frequent, like the one of moneychanger and alchemist. The technical advances in the boats or the great devices used by the Dutch can also be followed, as the dredges and the wind mills. The extracted scenes military or the allegorical ones of the Bible are innumerable. Sometimes the representations that they adorn these cards border the irony and the political satire, often unknown fields in the monetary mintings. The cards had ample diffusion in England and France where, when being scarce the currencies, sometimes replaced them. For methods of calculation more advanced will be necessary to wait to 1642, year in which Blaise Pascal invented to the nineteen years the calculating machine to help a its father in its accounts like intendant of finances.