Skip to main content

BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENNA



We know of modern banking to be easy and accessible, and safe. The words comes to our mind when we hear banking: ATM, deposit, withdraw, check, bills, credit cards, and such. What would be like without banking, or what would it be like when you were the one to establish the first ever bank and will continue to serve for 547 years and still counting!

Principles of banking were used to ancient civilizations like Rome, like lending and borrowing money or such. At the time, Roman Empire is expanding, thus the development of banking also widened.

But not until March 4,  1472, the first ever established bank was in the city state of Sienna, Italy by its magistrates. In fact, it is the 3rd largest bank in Italy and the oldest surviving bank in the world! The name of the bank is Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Continuing its service and operation since the year it was founded.

Published: January


Comments

Popular Articles

THE GAMBIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The Gambia, a small but not insignificant nation of West Africa and is one of the most oddly shaped countries on the continent of Africa. The occupants of what is now The Gambia probably migrated to the region from present-day Senegal in which the country is completely surrounded by its territory, except for a small coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. The Republic of the Gambia comprises of a narrow strip of land, ranging from 24 to 48 kilometers wide centering the Gambia River. The Gambia was part of the African Mali empire when the first Europeans, the Portuguese, arrived in the region in 1455. Throughout the late 1600’s and 1700’s, Britain and France contested for trade in the area. The Treaty of Versailles of 1783 granted the territory around the Gambia River to Britain. Britain’s 1889 agreement with France, which controlled Senegal resulted the country’s uncommon borders. In the years following World War II, the Gambia progressively moved towards independence. It gaine...

GABON AND ITS PEOPLE

  A former French colony, Gabon became an independent nation on August 17, 1960. Now on its 58th, the republic lies across the equator on the Atlantic coast of Africa. The first Europeans to reach the Gabonese Republic were the Portuguese sailors Lopes Gonsalvo and Fernan-vaz, who landed there at the end of the 1300’s. However, before these sailors came in Gabon, little is known about its past. Because the people in this region of Africa had no proper wat of writing that was preserved. The only people who claim to be original inhabitants of the Gabonese forests were the Pygmies. European, as usual on these days were slave traders. They dealt with the tribes along the coast for several centuries. In 1839, the French government established a permanent naval ad trading post after signing a treaty with local chiefs. Surprisingly, in 1849, only 10 years after the French established their posts, a group of freed slaves were landed at the place that later became Gabon...

VASCO DA GAMA

Remember when European explorers tried their very best to find a route to India? Well, we present you, the famous Vasco da Gama. A Portuguese sailor and the very first European to find a sea route to India. He made Portugal a great power in the 1500’s, his discoveries rally round open trade between western Europe and Asia.  By the times of 1460, Portuguese sailors had already begun to explore the west coast of Africa and by which time Da Gama was born in Sines, Portugal. Bartholomeu Dias aspired the route to India when he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa in 1487. Eventually, King Manuel I of Portugal asked Da Gama to continue Dias’ explorations in 1497.  With the order from his king, Da Gama sailed from Lisbon on July 8, 1497 with four ships and about 170 men. Instead of following the African coast, as previous explorers had done, he sailed bravely into the South Atlantic. After three months out of eyesight of land, Da Gama r...