Chamber of Commerce

Chamber of Commerce, local, national, or international association of businesspeople, established to promote commercial enterprises. Chambers of commerce try to attract new industries to their localities by advertising, and they engage in housing surveys, safety campaigns, and the promotion of laws favorable to trade. Originally, the membership of chambers of commerce was composed principally of merchants, but these associations later expanded to include bankers and manufacturers. Probably the first trade association to call itself a chamber of commerce was that founded in Marseille, France, in 1599, as a branch of the government of the town, with wide powers, including the appointment and supervision of French consulates in the Middle East. In 1700 Louis XIV, king of France, decreed the establishment of other chambers of commerce, with more limited powers, in other towns. Since that time they have been an integral part of French economic and governmental structures. Chambers of commerce in some European countries resemble those in France.

In the United Kingdom and the United States chambers of commerce have never had governmental functions. The first of these chambers were founded on the British island of Jersey and in New York City, both in 1768. The first chamber in England was the Commercial Society of Manchester, established in 1794. The London chamber was formed in 1881. The early chambers of commerce were concerned principally with problems of domestic and foreign trade and with governmental policies and political events affecting trade.

Reviewed by: United States Chamber of Commerce