- Entrepôt
An "entrepôt" (from the French "
warehouse ") is atrading post where merchandise can be imported andexport ed without paying import duties, often at aprofit . This profit is possible because of trade conditions, for example, the reluctance of ships to travel the entire length of a longtrading route , and selling to the entrepôt instead. The entrepôt then sells at a higher price to ships travelling the other segment of the route. Today, this use has mostly been supplanted bycustoms area s.Entrepôts were especially relevant in the
Middle Ages and in theearly modern period , when mercantileshipping flourished betweenEurope and its colonial empires in theAmericas andAsia . For example, demand forspice s in Europe, coupled with the long trade routes necessary for their delivery, led to a much highermarket price than the original buying price. However, traders often did not want to travel the whole route, and thus used the entrepôts on the way to sell on their goods. However, this also led to even more attractive profits for those who persevered to travel the entire route. [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mkohn/Papers/17.%20Markets.pdf Organized Markets in Pre-industrial Europe] (draft chapter of "The Origins of Western Economic Success: Commerce, Finance, and Government in Pre-Industrial Europe") - Kohn, Meir, Department of Economics Dartmouth College, Hanover, 12 July 2003, Page 3, Retrieved2007-08-19 .]ee also
*
Customs area
*Free port
*Re-exportation
*Specific entrepôts
**Cape of Good Hope
**Dubai
**Hong Kong
**Singapore
**Boma, Congo References
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