Wednesday, June 24, 2015

HBR: "The Hand Signals That Drove Business in Renaissance Europe"

From the Harvard Business Review:
hands-1
The textbook in which these hand signals appeared was written by Girolamo Tagliente in Venice in about 1515. According to one scholar, Tagliente’s book was printed throughout the 16th century and did much to shape the teaching of math—a vital discipline for merchants and tradesmen. 
The marketplaces of Renaissance Europe were polyglot bazaars, attracting traders from across the Continent and beyond, who spoke different languages and carried different currencies. How did businessmen communicate? And how did they stay abreast of exchange rates?...MORE