Barter It is a type of transaction in which a deal is closed without the involvement of money, that is, banknotes or coins. Barter works through the exchange of goods and was one of the main forms of commerce in antiquity. It was a model that preceded the monetization of economies. In addition, bartering was used in Brazil during the period in which brazilwood was being explored.
Check out our podcast: Pau-brasil: history and exploration
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about barter
- 2 - What is barter?
- 3 - How was barter carried out?
- 4 - Barter in Brazil
barter summary
Barter is a type of transaction where a deal is closed without involving money.
In barter, what happens is the exchange of goods between the two parties involved.
This type of exchange was very common in antiquity.
Some peoples, such as the Egyptians and the Romans, created systems of values and measures to determine how much should be charged for a given commodity.
Barter preceded the monetization of the economy.
This commercial practice was used during the Crisis of 1929.
Bartering was also used in the exploitation of pau-brasil.
What is barter?
Bartering is a form of transaction that was widely used in periods such as Old age It is Middle Ages. The practice of bartering preceded the monetization of the economy on the planet and basically consisted of the exchange of goods between two parties. Thus, it happened when a transaction without the use of currency.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
This is because the monetarization of the economy is an event that did not occur in a linear fashion, that is, some peoples took a considerable time to use the currency as a way of making exchanges or paying for a service provided. Around the 5th century BC. C., however, a number of peoples already made use of coins in negotiations. This is the case with the Etruscans, the greeks, of the persians and of Egyptians, for example.
Before that, it was quite common for exchanges to take place through barter, but there were also alternative forms of commercial transactions. In the case of barter, these were given by the exchange of goods that satisfies both parties.
There could be an agreement in which one of the parties offered a certain amount of wood in exchange for grain, for example. This negotiation could be carried out between Egyptians and Phoenicians, since the Phoenicians had great availability of cedar, while the Egyptians were known for their abundant grain production.
Lookalso: Feudalism — context in which barter was used in the Middle Ages
How was the barter carried out?
some people created systems of values and measures to determine how much should be charged for a particular commodity. In the case of Egypt, for example, there was the deben, a unit of value corresponding to approximately 90 grams of copper. There was also the deben of gold and silver. This system ended up allowing the exchange of goods, because if both sides had goods that corresponded to a deben, the deal could be completed.
In addition to the Egyptians, the romans created a value unit to define a certain amount of bronze. It was about the aes rude, which corresponded to about 324 grams of bronze, this being the main means by which negotiations took place. This system is considered to be the forerunner of coinage.
With the development of trade in antiquity, certain types of goods have become more valuable. Thus, a larger volume of goods was needed to proceed with the negotiation. Even with the monetization of economies, barter continued to be carried out among small producers and in places of difficult access, where circulating coins arrived in limited quantities.
The development of Roman Civilization allowed coins to become the predominant mode of payment for goods and services, but the decline of this empire, from the 5th century onwards, resulted in the ruralization of Western Europe. In this scenario, barter gained strength and continued strong until the Low Middle Ages, the period in which the commercial renaissance.
Bartering is still practiced today, although it is a very restricted type of commercial transaction. In periods of crisis, such as the Great Depression, which occurred during the Crisis of 1929, it was common for people to adhere to this form of negotiation because they did not have money.
Barter in Brazil
At the Brazil, barter was also adopted. The most emblematic case was the practice by the Portuguese during the exploitation of pau-brasil, during the period known as pre-colonial.
At that time, the Portuguese had no interest in carrying out exploration expeditions in the Brazilian territory to find gold and silver, since the priority was the commercialization of spices in the India. So they started exploring the brazilwood, a tree that was seen as a commodity with potential financial return.
In this way, the Portuguese made an agreement based on barter with the Indians, which inhabited the coastal regions. They would do the work of identifying, felling the trees and transporting the logs to the Portuguese factories. In exchange, they would receive objects that would be useful in their daily lives, such as axes, knives, among others.
By Daniel Neves
History teacher
The organization of the productive system within Feudal Europe.
Click on the link and access this text to learn more about the exploitation of pau-brasil, the first economic activity carried out by the Portuguese in Brazil.
Click here and learn about the main aspects related to the Pre-Colonial Period, the context prior to the effective occupation of Brazilian lands by Portugal.
Click and find out what the commercial and urban renaissance is all about. Understand the reasons for each process and the changes they caused.
