Commodity production, markets and the cities of Asia

The commodity economy is an economy producing goods to be sold or exchanged at market. As craftsmen began to make goods for sale, the self-sufficient (natural) economy of the early Middle Ages gradually gave way to the commodity economy. Trade routes improved: in France the main roads were paved with stone and bridges were built over rivers. In western Europe in the 13th–15th centuries there were two main trade routes: the southern Levant route (across the Mediterranean, linking Italy, southern France and Spain with Byzantium and Asia) and the northern route linking cities on the Baltic and North Seas. Dozens of cities of northern Germany and neighbouring lands joined the Hanseatic League. Venice and Genoa were maritime republics with powerful fleets. In the 13th century Marco Polo of Venice travelled to China, served at the court of the Mongol khan Kublai and described the East in his book. Fairs were places of wholesale trade and entertainment; the most famous was the Champagne fair in France. In the 14th–15th centuries the first banks appeared in Italy, and in the 15th century exchanges appeared at Bruges (1409) and Antwerp (1460).