Bill of exchange
Letra de cambio
- Date
- c. 1250 · confidence medium
- Place
- Genoa and Florence, Italy (Champagne fairs)
- Credited to
- Italian merchant-bankers
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A document by which a merchant orders a sum received to be paid out in another place and currency, avoiding the transport of coin and evading the prohibition on usury. The basic instrument of international credit.
Islamic instruments (sakk, suftaja) of the 9th–10th centuries are clear precedents; the European form matured in the 13th–14th centuries.
What it led to
- Italian banking networks (Bardi, Peruzzi, Medici) with branches across Europe
- an exchange market and concealed interest rates
- commercial law and endorsement, a precedent for the cheque
Built on
- Banking and creditc. 500 BCE
- Islamic suftaja and hawala
- maritime bill of exchange