Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 21, 2019 22:20:57 GMT
Today Great Britain has emerged to become the dominant center for banking and commerce, with the founding of the Bank of England in 1694. Subsequently, the Bank of England would become the model for future central banks that will be established down the road, including the Federal Reserve in the United States. However, the concept of the central bank has been fraught with certain controversies that I would not venture out too deep.
Were there any other places in Europe that would have become a different center of banking and commerce other than England? So far, I've got three potential candidates that would be examined, and why would they be suitable:
1) Netherlands: The Dutch had a powerful financial tradition, originating in the aftermath of the Dutch Revolt and their eventual independence from Spain, where the savings of most Dutch citizens were concentrated and various institutions like the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the Dutch East India Company were set up to help facilitate those very same financial savings. In a world where England either remained Catholic or had different successors to their kings that would kill the possibility of a Dutch prince taking over the British throne, I could see the Netherlands becoming the first place to set up a banking system similar to the modern central banks of today.
2) Italy: Italy had a rich banking tradition in that several Italian banking families arose to prominence, with the Medici being among them. In particular, Venice was the epicenter of finance, although Florence was home to most famous Italian banking families like the Acciaiuoli, Peruzzi and Bardi clans. (Ironically, Florence is also home to the well known proto-Christian reformer Girolamo Savonarola himself, known for his preaching of charity) In a world where the Italian states either remained divided or evolved into two or three competing kingdoms vying for domination of the Italian peninsula, most of them would have a rich financial tradition that would be unbroken.
3) Germany: Although this wasn't originally going to be on this list, I had to include Germany in here because of one family: the aforementioned Rothschild family. However, we also have the Fugger and Hochstetter families to contend with, and the Fuggers were bankers who served the House of Hapsburg. Would a unified German state be just as powerful as its OTL counterpart if their economic tradition was dominated by finance instead of a long tradition of labor?
Were there any other places in Europe that would have become a different center of banking and commerce other than England? So far, I've got three potential candidates that would be examined, and why would they be suitable:
1) Netherlands: The Dutch had a powerful financial tradition, originating in the aftermath of the Dutch Revolt and their eventual independence from Spain, where the savings of most Dutch citizens were concentrated and various institutions like the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the Dutch East India Company were set up to help facilitate those very same financial savings. In a world where England either remained Catholic or had different successors to their kings that would kill the possibility of a Dutch prince taking over the British throne, I could see the Netherlands becoming the first place to set up a banking system similar to the modern central banks of today.
2) Italy: Italy had a rich banking tradition in that several Italian banking families arose to prominence, with the Medici being among them. In particular, Venice was the epicenter of finance, although Florence was home to most famous Italian banking families like the Acciaiuoli, Peruzzi and Bardi clans. (Ironically, Florence is also home to the well known proto-Christian reformer Girolamo Savonarola himself, known for his preaching of charity) In a world where the Italian states either remained divided or evolved into two or three competing kingdoms vying for domination of the Italian peninsula, most of them would have a rich financial tradition that would be unbroken.
3) Germany: Although this wasn't originally going to be on this list, I had to include Germany in here because of one family: the aforementioned Rothschild family. However, we also have the Fugger and Hochstetter families to contend with, and the Fuggers were bankers who served the House of Hapsburg. Would a unified German state be just as powerful as its OTL counterpart if their economic tradition was dominated by finance instead of a long tradition of labor?
