Markets have existed for as long as humans have engaged in trade

A market, or marketplace, is a location where people regularly go to gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods.[1] In different parts of the world, a market place may be described as a souk (from the Arabic), bazaar (from the Persian), a fixed mercado (Spanish), or itinerant tianguis (Mexico), or palengke (Philippines). Some markets operate daily and are said to be permanent markets while others are held once a week or on less frequent specified days such as festival days and are said to be periodic markets. The form that a market adopts depends on its locality's population, culture, ambient and geographic conditions. The term market covers many types of trading, as market squares, market halls and food halls, and their different varieties. Due to this, marketplaces can be situated both outdoors and indoors, and in the modern world, online.

Markets have existed for as long as humans have engaged in trade. The earliest bazaars are believed to have originated in Persia, from where they spread to the rest of the Middle East and Europe. Documentary sources suggest that zoning policies confined trading to particular parts of cities from around 3,000 BCE, creating the conditions necessary for the emergence of a bazaar. Middle Eastern bazaars were typically long strips with stalls on either side and a covered roof designed to protect traders and purchasers from the fierce sun. In Europe, informal, unregulated markets gradually made way for a system of formal, chartered markets from the 12th century. Throughout the Medieval period, increased regulation of marketplace practices, especially weights and measures, gave consumers confidence in the quality of market goods and the fairness of prices. Around the globe, markets have evolved in different ways depending on local ambient conditions, especially weather, tradition, and culture. In the Middle East, markets tend to be covered, to protect traders and shoppers from the sun. In milder climates, markets are often open air. In Asia, a system of morning markets trading in fresh produce and night markets trading in non-perishables is common.

Today, markets can also be accessed electronically or on the internet through e-commerce or matching platforms.

In many countries, shopping at a local market is a standard feature of daily life. Given the market's role in ensuring food supply for a population, markets are often highly regulated by a central authority. In many places, designated market places have become listed sites of historic and architectural significance and represent part of a town or nation's cultural assets. For these reasons, they are often popular tourist destinations.

Markets have existed since ancient times.[3] Some historians have argued that a type of market has existed since humans first began to engage in trade.[4][5] Open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia, Assyria, Phoenecia, Greece, Egypt and on the Arabian peninsula. However, not all societies developed a system of markets.[6] The Greek historian, Herodotus noted that markets did not evolve in ancient Persia.[7]

Across the Mediterranean and Aegean, a network of markets emerged from the early Bronze Age. A vast array of goods were traded including: salt, lapiz-lazuli, dyes, cloth, metals, pots, ceramics, statues, spears and other implements. Archaeological evidence suggests that Bronze Age traders segmented trade routes according to geographical circuits.[8] Both produce and ideas travelled along these trade routes.[9]

In the Middle-East, documentary sources suggest that a form of bazaar first developed around 3,000 BCE.[10] Early bazaars occupied a series of alleys along the length of the city, typically stretching from one city gate to a different gate on the other side of the city. The bazaar at Tabriz, for example, stretches along 1.5 kilometres of street and is the longest vaulted bazaar in the world.[11] Moosavi argues that the Middle-Eastern bazaar evolved in a linear pattern, whereas the market places of the West were more centralised.[12] The Greek historian, Herodotus, noted that in Egypt, roles were reversed compared with other cultures and Egyptian women frequented the market and carried on trade, while the men remain at home weaving cloth.[13] He also described The Babylonian Marriage Market.[14]

In antiquity

Ruins of the macellum (market-place) at Leptis Magna, Carthage
In antiquity, markets were typically situated in the town's centre. The market was surrounded by alleyways inhabited by skilled artisans, such as metal-workers, leather workers and carpenters. These artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, but also prepared goods for sale on market days.[3] Across ancient Greece market places (agorai) were to be found in most city states, where they operated within the agora (open space).[15] Between 550 and 350 BCE, Greek stallholders clustered together according to the type of goods carried - fish-sellers were in one place, clothing in another and sellers of more expensive goods such as perfumes, bottles and jars were located in a separate building.[16] The Greeks organised trade into separate zones, all located near the city centre and known as stoa. A freestanding colonnade with a covered walkway, the stoa was both a place of commerce and a public promenade, situated within or adjacent to the agora.[17] At the market-place (agorai) in Athens, officials were employed by the government to oversee weights, measures, and coinage to ensure that the people were not cheated in market place transactions. The rocky and mountainous terrain in Greece made it difficult for producers to transport goods or surpluses to local markets, giving rise to the kapēlos,[18] a specialised type of retailer who operated as an intermediary purchasing produce from farmers and transporting it over short distances to the city markets.[15]

In ancient Rome, trade took place in the forum. Rome had two forums; the Forum Romanum and Trajan's Forum. Trajan's Market at Trajan's forum, built around 100-110CE, was a vast expanse, comprising multiple buildings with shops on four levels. The Roman forum was arguably the earliest example of a permanent retail shopfront.[19] In antiquity, exchange involved direct selling via merchants or peddlers and bartering systems were commonplace. In the Roman world, the central market primarily served the local peasantry. Market stall holders were primarily local primary producers who sold small surpluses from their individual farming activities and also artisans who sold leather-goods, metal-ware and pottery. Consumers were made up of several different groups; farmers who purchased minor farm equipment and a few luxuries for their homes and urban dwellers who purchased basic necessities. Major producers such as the great estates were sufficiently attractive for merchants to call directly at their farm-gates, obviating the producers' need to attend local markets. The very wealthy landowners managed their own distribution, which may have involved importing and exporting. The nature of export markets in antiquity is well documented in ancient sources and archaeological case studies.[20]

Trajan's Market, Rome, Italy
At Pompeii multiple markets served the population of approximately 12,000. Produce markets were located in the vicinity of the Forum, while livestock markets were situated on the city's perimeter, near the amphitheatre. A long narrow building at the north-west corner of the Forum was some type of market, possibly a cereal market. On the opposite corner stood the macellum, thought to have been a meat and fish market. Market stall-holders paid a market tax for the right to trade on market days. Some archaeological evidence suggests that markets and street vendors were controlled by local government. A graffito on the outside of a large shop documents a seven-day cycle of markets; "Saturn’s day at Pompeii and Nuceria, Sun’s day at Atella and Nola, Moon’s day at Cumae ... etc." The presence of an official commercial calendar suggests something of the market's importance to community life and trade.[21] Markets were also important centres of social life.[22]

In medieval Europe

Medieval market scene by Joachim Beuckelaer, c. 1560
In early Western Europe, markets developed close to monasteries, castles or royal residences. Priories and aristocratic manorial households created considerable demand for goods and services - both luxuries and necessities and also afforded some protection to merchants and traders. These centres of trade attracted sellers which would stimulate the growth of the town. The Domesday Book of 1086 lists 50 markets in England, however, many historians believe this figure underestimates the actual number of markets in operation at the time. In England, some 2,000 new markets were established between 1200 and 1349.[23] By 1516, England had some 2,464 markets and 2,767 fairs while Wales had 138 markets and 166 fairs.[24]

From the 12th century, English monarchs awarded a charter to local Lords to create markets and fairs for a town or village. A charter protected the town's trading privileges in return for an annual fee. Once a chartered market was granted for specific market days, a nearby rival market could not open on the same days.[25] Fairs, which were usually held annually, and almost always associated with a religious festival,[26] traded in high value goods, while regular weekly or bi-weekly markets primarily traded in fresh produce and necessities.[27] Although a fair's primary purpose was trade, it typically included some elements of entertainment, such as dance, music or tournaments. As the number of markets increased, market towns situated themselves sufficiently far apart so as to avoid competition, but close enough to permit local producers a round trip within one day (about 10 km).[28] Some British open-air markets have been operating continuously since the 12th century.

Loggia del Pesce, Florence, (formerly part of the Loggia del Mercato Vecchio) just prior to its demolition in 1880
A pattern of market trading using mobile stalls under covered arcades was probably established in Italy with the open loggias of Mercato Nuovo (1547) designed and constructed by Giovanni Battista del Tasso (and funded by the Medici family); Mercato Vecchio, Florence designed by Giorgio Vasari (1567) and Loggia del Grano (1619) by architect, Giulio Parigi.[29]

Braudel and Reynold have made a systematic study of European market towns between the thirteenth and fifteenth century. Their investigation shows that in regional districts markets were held once or twice a week while daily markets were common in larger cities. Over time, permanent shops began opening daily and gradually supplanted the periodic markets, while peddlers or itinerant sellers continued to fill in any gaps in distribution.

During the Middle Ages, the physical market was characterised by transactional exchange. Shops had higher overhead costs, but were able to offer regular trading hours and a relationship with customers and may have offered added value services, such as credit terms to reliable customers. The economy was primarily characterised by local trading in which goods were traded across relatively short distances.

Beach markets, which were known in north-western Europe, during the Viking period, were primarily associated with the sale of fish.[30] From around the 11th-century, the number and variety of imported goods sold at beach markets began to increase. giving consumers access to a broader range of exotic and luxury goods.[31] Throughout the Medieval period, markets became more international. The historian, Braudel, reports that, in 1600, grain moved just 5–10 miles; cattle 40–70 miles; wool and wollen cloth 20–40 miles. However, following the European age of discovery, goods were imported from afar - calico cloth from India, porcelain, silk and tea from China, spices from India and South-East Asia and tobacco, sugar, rum and coffee from the New World.[32]

Performance at the fair by Pieter Brueghel, the younger, late 16th century
Across the boroug