Around 2,000 BC we see the earliest recorded activity of long distance merchant capitalism, conducted by the Assyrians in Mesopotamia (modern day Northern Iraq).
The Assyrians had an early and crude form of capitalism whereby merchants would buy goods and resell them for a profit. This merchant capitalism greatly expanded during the Roman Empire and the medieval Islamic world during
the 9th Century and more so during the 12th Century in Medieval Europe.
Another early form of capitalism was money lending.
Money lending was almost exclusively between private individuals, and mostly wealthy individuals.
Very simply, one person would loan money to another person, and charge interest.
In Ancient Israel, it was against the laws of Moses to charge interest to other Jews, but it was okay to charge interest to “strangers.”
At the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which was a council of Christian bishops convened by the Emperor Constantine, Canon 17 was enacted.
Prior to Canon 17, Canon law forbade clergyman from engaging in usury-- defined at that time as charging interest of any kind.
However, Canon 17 allowed Clergy to charge 1% of interest per month or 12.7% per year. This law was later extended to the laity.
Subsequently, Popes abolished all secular laws allowing usury, and if you accepted any interest you could not receive sacrament or a Christian burial. It was deemed “detestable to God and man to charge interest. Similarly, interest is also forbidden by the Quran under Islam.
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