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[[File:B078682b5485b042587f5ca1fd08662c.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 1. The Dutch East India Company was the first company to be publicly traded in the first stock market established in Amsterdam in 1602. ]]__NOTOC__
Stock markets developed over the last few centuries into companies issuing shares and investment opportunities to shareholders. Stock markets very much drive modern economies but the ideas behind them are a few centuries old. Nevertheless, the concept of investing in firms or organizations that reap rewards for shareholders engaged in trading is an ancient one and goes back millennia.
==Early History==
