Bond markets and insurance instruments arose to manage risk in the slave trade.
The relevance of the printing press is only that printed forms were required for conducting commerce between parties that were introduced at arms length i.e. from outside networks of direct personal trust (one or two degrees of separation i.e. someone trusted could vouch for an associate to introduce that associate to a capital merchant, who could document the arrangement with a "hand-written note", with the full knowledge that he had the means to extract revenge in the breach because the parties were known to each other).
With printed forms, the numerous detailed requirements stipulating the terms of guarantee could be mass produced in advance, thus enabling strangers to circumvent the need for personal assurances so they could operate in free and open markets, thus greatly expanding the pool of financiers, entrepreneurs, traders and customers.
See
How the shadow of slavery still hangs over global finance
This long article on the slave trade provides broad and detailed historical context for the evolution of the financial industry, without directly treating finance in depth.
The relevance of the printing press is only that printed forms were required for conducting commerce between parties that were introduced at arms length i.e. from outside networks of direct personal trust (one or two degrees of separation i.e. someone trusted could vouch for an associate to introduce that associate to a capital merchant, who could document the arrangement with a "hand-written note", with the full knowledge that he had the means to extract revenge in the breach because the parties were known to each other).
With printed forms, the numerous detailed requirements stipulating the terms of guarantee could be mass produced in advance, thus enabling strangers to circumvent the need for personal assurances so they could operate in free and open markets, thus greatly expanding the pool of financiers, entrepreneurs, traders and customers.
See
How the shadow of slavery still hangs over global finance
https://theconversation.com/how-the-shadow-of-slavery-still-...
America's First Bond Market Was Backed By Enslaved Human Beings
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pedrodacosta/2019/09/01/america...
The hidden links between slavery and Wall Street
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49476247
THE ORIGINS OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT: HOW THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE MODERN FINANCE
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w23800/w238...
This long article on the slave trade provides broad and detailed historical context for the evolution of the financial industry, without directly treating finance in depth.
http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/Atlantic_slave_trade