CJH/ACH on-line articles appear in full text except for
footnotes and illustrations. Footnotes have been stripped from
the articles and an asterisk (*) indicates where the footnote
appears in the published version. Peer-reviewed scholarly
article published in: Canadian Journal of History/Annales
canadiennes d'histoire XXXI, April/avril 1996, pp. 1-15, ISSN
0008-4107 © Canadian Journal of History One of the most
predictable features of urban life, at almost any time or place,
is some form of regular market.* A recent study of markets and
fairs in Roman Italy stresses their importance as a normal
feature of Roman towns, and surmises that a large portion of the
Roman food trades passed through them.* Anthropologists and
development economists have viewed such institutions across the
world in modern times. In a memorable chapter of his Tristes
Tropiques, Lévi-Strauss recalls the markets, fairs, and bazaars
he has visited in India and South America, flies, crowds, and
all. He goes on to describe the market place,