Barter endured for thousands of years as the primary means of trade. Colonial powers forced bilateral barter upon their client states, making the colonies take expensive manufactured goods in return for bargain-price raw materials, and prohibiting them from trading with other nations. International trade was supposed to be freed from bartering’s constraints in July 1944, when diplomats and economists attended the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
易货贸易作为贸易的主要方式持续了数千年。殖民列强把双边易货贸易强加于其附庸国,强迫其殖民地买进昂贵的制成品,以兑换他们从殖民地买入的极廉价的原材料,并且禁止殖民地同其他国家进行贸易活动。国际贸易从易货贸易的束缚中解脱出来应该从1944年7月算起，当时各国外交官和经济学家出席了在(美国)新罕布什尔州布雷顿森林市召开的联合国货币金融大会。
