Trade (profession)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A trade as an occupation usually refers to the profession that require some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in most kinds of crafts and small-scale production of goods.
The households of the members of the society occupied in trade professions were not as self-sufficient, as of those engaged in agricultural work and, as such, had to rely on exchange of goods.
Tradesmen tended to concentrate in urban centers and formed the guilds. Trade occupation and the need to be permanently involved in the exchange of goods also demanded a generally higher level of education and in societal hierarchy the tradesmen were usually in a more privileged position than the peasantry.