Stack market

A stacking market was a place where goods from all possible regions were delivered in the Middle Ages and early modern times and were sometimes stored for a long time until they were sold. The staple market served the continuous supply of a region and allowed the traders to use or compensate for price fluctuations. Its functioning required a correspondingly large hinterland and effective sales channels. Dealers from different countries enjoyed privileges in certain stacking markets and were able to set up branches.

At the same time, the stacking markets were used for customs control and collection. Typical staple products were grain, wine, wool, wood, cattle and later exotic imported goods.

Important staple markets and trading centers for long-distance and overseas trade in the 14th / 15th centuries. In the 16th century there were Bruges , Dordrecht , Venice and Genoa , in the 16th century Antwerp and in the 17th century Amsterdam (at that time the most important stacking market in the world) and Batavia . In England there are the common place names Stapleton or Stapleford .

In the early 18th century, with the end of the Gouden Eeuw and the retreat of commercial capital into the financial sector, the importance of the Western European stacking markets (especially the Amsterdam market) declined, also because new methods of price formation were used and the English and French competition increased Could serve ports more flexibly.

Web links

• Definition on historiek.net (Dutch)

literature

• Adaline L. Jenckes: The Origin, the Organization and the Location of the Staple of England. Philadelphia 1908 Online