![Scene in London’s “Change Alley” in 1720](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/szene-in-der-londoner-change-alley-1720-300x225.jpg)
The dream of a quick profit
Trading in goods has been institutionalised and formalised since the Middle Ages. Places such as stock exchanges have become increasingly important. With the formation of the first joint-stock companies during the Early Modern Period, there was a growing need to co-finance these organisations, and new financial instruments found their way onto the trading floors of the world’s financial markets.
![The birthplace of the term “Börse” (stock exchange)](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/beursplein-im-zentrum-von-brugge-300x169.jpg)
![This beam comes from the “Ter Beurze” inn in Bruges.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/balken-169x300.jpg)
![Swiss mercenary (ensign) from the Regiment de Meuron in the service of the Dutch East India Company, c. 1790.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/schweizer-soldner-fahnrich-aus-dem-regiment-de-meuron-im-dienst-der-hollandischen-ostindienkompanie-um-1790-gbe-150634-lm-145098-196x300.jpg)
![Between 1719 and 1734, the state of Bern owned shares like this one in the English South Sea Company](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/aktie-south-sea-company-300x178.jpg)
![1720 caricature of a stock promoter loudly touting Mississippi Company shares and other financial products.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/karikatur-eines-aktienhandlers-von-1720-259x300.jpg)
![This is how stock exchange transactions were carried out in Switzerland until 1996: ring trading in Zurich.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ringhandel-in-zurich-300x300.jpg)