Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
Venice was a financial powerhouse in the twelfth century, but when the Byzantine Empire started imprisoning Venetian merchants, Venice had to strike back. To do that, it needed to raise money. Venetian politicians started a new kind of loan, the “prestiti,” so they could borrow money for war. Today on The Indicator, how the the first bond came to be and how it transformed the way governments borrow money.
Music “Morning Start”, “Offertorium: Ecce apertum est Templum tabernaculi”
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