(BFM Stock Exchange) – This word has its origin in a family of innkeepers in the city of Bruges, the Van der Beurse, who gave its name to a local exchange place. Different financial centers will then spread, with the creation in particular of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the first to exchange securities of business properties.
It is a word which in most Latin languages refers daily to the markets: the “scholarship”. But what is the origin of this term used to designate a place of exchange with listed lessons?
Contrary to what one might think, the term referring to the financial institution is not derived from the word “scholarship” within the meaning of the sachet containing coins.
This word is actually linked to the Italian “Borsa”, which refers to the “scholarship” of Bruges, the latter in front of its own name to the hotel which housed a family of eggplants, called the “van der Burse” (or “van der beurse”, the spelling often varying over the ages), explains the dictionary of the French Academy.
Let’s go back to the Middle Ages at a time when the beginnings of modern finance are structured in the major ports and commerce centers of Northern Italy, such as Venice and Florence, but also in the Flemish city of Bruges.
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The Bruges Stock Exchange
“Bruges became the warehouse of northern Europe maritime ports. The goods, money and information flocked from all over the world in the Hanseatic city,” said the Zurich finance museum.
“Bruges therefore played a crucial role in the development of trade and traffic traffic. The spices of the East India, English fabrics, sugar and raw materials were stored, exchanged and sold on the European continent”, continues the museum on its website.
The merchants thus flock to the Belgian city and a place located in front of the inn held by the Van der Beurse family over five generations becomes their privileged meeting place.
We go to this place called Ter Beurse (“on the stock market”) to consult the last exchange rates and build contracts. The innkeepers are not content to host the passing merchants. Over time, they become their representatives and brokers.
According to Citeco.fr, the site of the City of the Economy, and the Government of Flanders, it is the creation of the first scholarship in the world, the date put forward by these two sources located in 1309.
The boom of Bruges is interrupted due to the saphable of the Zwin estuary. Access to the city of the city is moving away more and more, reducing maritime traffic. At the end of the 15th century, Bruges was clearly dethroned by his young neighbor: Antwerp.
The Antwerp Stock Exchange will also be created in the 1520s. According to the Government of Flanders, this is the first scholarship created in order to be a full -fledged exchange place. Its building “served as a model for buildings similar to London, Amsterdam and other European cities”, explains the Flandersconventionbureau.com site which depends on the Flemish executive.
The concept and word of “buerse” is trying in the rest of Europe: French scholarship (from the 16th century in Lyon, long before Paris), Borsa in Italy, Börse in Germany, Bolsa in Spain and until Great Britain … Indeed, before being replaced by that of “Royal Exchange”, the London Stock Exchange was called “Bursle” until the 18th century.
First IPO in Amsterdam
If the Bruges Stock Exchange can be considered the first “scholarship” in the world, some articles refer to the creation of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, in 1602. This is the case of the Euronext stock market operator who writes that this place “is considered the oldest active scholarship in the world”.
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the first to have seen corporate ownership securities, where the older scholarships were exchanging goods and thus got closer to raw materials. This first listed company was the Dutch Indies company, founded in 1602, which then made the very first IPO in history.
“The shareholders themselves had no written evidence that they had a share of the company. The investors who had subscribed to the company’s IPO in 1602, however, received a receipt when they had paid the last bran of their subscription,” wrote the Dutch historian and economist Lodwijk Petram.
Let us recall that, in France, the first scholarship was created in Lyon, therefore, in 1540, followed by that of Toulouse in 1556 then of Paris in 1563. According to Citeco.fr, the first company by action in France was however founded in 1372, with the owners of the Moulins de Bazacle, in Toulouse, who had divided the capital into 96 shares freely transferable to market price.
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