Banking
Moneylending has existed since metal-based coins first appeared in Antiquity. However, its availability is heavily dependent on the dominant people, culture, or religion of a given state.
A shift occurred in the Middle Ages, encouraged by the renewed growth of long-range commercial activities on the Eurasian continent and its peripheries. Specialized moneylenders began to organize when Jewish communities started operating between the Christian and Muslim worlds. However, the boom of credit demand that followed the Crusades in the 12th century encouraged merchants in the Italian city-states to create larger structures for moneylending, effectively founding the first banking institutions, such as the Peruzzi and Bardi houses.
More instruments were developed, like bills of exchange and debt bonds, and banking dynasties such as the di Medici, Fugger, or Welser soon became as powerful as states.
CityLocation Rankcan spawn
MegalopolisLocation Rankcan spawn