Market Towns
Whereas a village exists by virtue of the production in the immediate vicinity, a town arises as a commercial center where the products of villages are traded. Such places arise on their own or are established by a proprietor (generally a "gentleman of the court") in which markets convene regularly for the exchange of goods among surrounding villages as well as those brought to town from more remote areas.
As such, the inhabitants of nearby villages travel to towns to sell their products and buy other articles that they need, but which are unavailable in their villages.
Towns also accommodate a greater number and variety of artisans, whose work is in insufficient demand in a village to sustain them, but for the aggregated demand of many villages becomes sufficient for them to earn a living by their trade.
Merchants find a number of advantages to establishing stores in towns:
- It is possible to transport their wares around to the various villages, but the cost of doing so is prohibitive
- A merchant might visit several villages before finding one that produced goods of the nature and quality he desires
- Villagers are often occupied in production and would generally be in their fields when the merchants arrived, or otherwise unprepared to engage in trade
- As a fair price of a good is determined by consideration of what it might fetch elsewhere, it would be difficult for merchants and villagers to arrive at an agreement
All of these difficulties are avoided by having a center of trade where exchanges are regular and customary.
As with villages, the size of a market town is in proportion to the number of people and goods within travelling distance.
It is the general nature of evolution that a town begins as a highly productive village that is centrally located, such that the trading village has goods for which the residents of other villages wish to obtain, and the distance is not too inconvenient. It is possible for a town to be established as a town, though this is unusual.