Merchant capitalism

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Merchant capitalism is a term used by economic historians to refer to the earliest phase in the development of capitalism as an economy and social system. The earliest stages of merchant capitalism were developed in the medieval Islamic world from the 9th century, and in medieval Europe from the 12th century.^[1][2][3] In Europe, merchant capitalism became a significant economic force in the 16th century, depending on point of view. The mercantile era drew to a close around 1800, giving way to industrial capitalism.

Merchant capitalism was mostly not based on industrialization and the factory system, but on merchant houses backed by financiers acting as intermediaries between simple commodity producers. Thus, merchant capitalism preceded the capitalist mode of production as a form of capital accumulation. The transformation of merchant capitalism into industrial capitalism involved, according to Karl Marx, a process of primitive accumulation of capital, resulting in a rapid expansion of industrial wage labor.

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• John Day, Money and finance in the age of merchant capitalism, 1999.
• J.L. van Zanden, The rise and decline of Holland's economy: merchant capitalism and the labour market, 1993.
• Joseph Calder Miller, Way of death : merchant capitalism and the Angolan slave trade 1730-1830 1988.
• Elizabeth Genovese & Eugene D. Genovese, Fruits of merchant capital : slavery and bourgeois property in the rise and expansion of capitalism, 1983.
• Paul Frentrop, A History of Corporate Governance, 1602-2002. Amsterdam: Deminor, 2003.
• Andre Gunder Frank, World accumulation, 1492 - 1789. New York: 1978
• Henri Pirenne, Economic and social history of Medieval Europe. London: Routledge, 1936.
• Michel Beaud, A history of capitalism 1500 – 2000. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2001.
• Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century, Academic Press, 1997.
• Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750, Academic Press; (June 1980).
• Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System III: The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730-1840s. Academic Press, 1988.