Fairs originated to solve the problem of distribution of goods. As long ago as 1000 BC, it was quite common for caravans of merchants to converge on cities in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia during religious festivals when many people would be together in a holiday mood. (The word fair comes from the Latin feria, meaning "holiday.") a, and Central Asia. By appearing on a regular, if infrequent, basis, merchants could concentrate supply and demand in a certain place at a specific time. As centuries passed the religious aspect of the feast diminished, and the commercial aspect dominated.

With the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, most commerce ceased for about 200 years. But in the Muslim world of North Africa and the Middle East, as well as India, fairs continued to flourish. Muslims controlled much of the shipping in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf; and exotic goods found their way from China, India, and Southeast Asia to these fairs. The merchants also carried commodities from North Africa and the Middle East to India and China.
In India the largest fairs took place during the religious pilgrimages, especially to the sacred rivers such as the Ganges and the Jumna. Each of the dominant faiths Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim had its own fairs, which were a combination of ritual bathing, prayer, fasting, music, dancing, buying, and selling.

In China, which has long been known for a large governmental bureaucracy, the fairs were closely supervised by the government. After China had become a single political unit in later centuries, the fairs were relegated to cities on the coast, such as Canton, in order that foreign merchants and traders could be segregated from the rest of society. Chinese merchants, however, were free to travel to fairs in other parts of the world. Java in the East Indies had a sizable Chinese quarter at Bantam on the north coast, where a large fair was held every year.

In the 7th century in Europe, there began a gradual revival of trade and commerce that grew to great proportions from the 11th century on. Charlemagne promoted markets everywhere in his large domain. Fairs evolved from these local markets, especially near sea or river ports or at other places where caravans of merchants converged. Again religious festivals were often the occasion for a fair. As early as 629 a fair was chartered at ST. Denis, north of Paris. In the 11th century the Easter fairs at Cologne, Germany, were popular gathering places. In the Byzantine Empire there were major fairs at Thessalonica, Antioch, and Trebizond that flourished until the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century.

For about 200 years, beginning in the 12th century, the most prominent fairs of Europe were those held in Champagne, now a region of France. At these fairs could be found products from all over Europe as well as furs from Russia, drugs and spices from the Far East, cloth from Flanders and England, and linen from southern Germany. Other important fairs took place at Lyon, France; Brugge, Belgium; Geneva, Switzerland; Stourbridge, England; and Nizhny Novgorod in central Russia. By the 16th century the age of the great trade fairs was coming to an end.
The origins of amusement parks lie in ancient and medieval religious festivals and trade fairs. Merchants, entertainers, and food sellers gathered in order to take advantage of the large temporary crowds. Permanent outdoor amusement areas also date from antiquity, but public resorts for personal relaxation and recreation did not appear in Europe until the Renaissance. They were called pleasure gardens.
English pleasure gardens developed from resort grounds run by proprietors of inns and taverns. The first one with an international reputation was London's Vauxhall Gardens, which opened in 1661. It covered 12 acres (5 hectares), and admission was free.

Entertainment included music, acrobatic acts, and fireworks. Mozart performed there as an 8-year-old prodigy in 1764. In France the pleasure gardens were created by professional showmen such as the Ruggieri family, who opened the Ruggieri Gardens in Paris in 1766. As in London, fireworks were a popular attraction. Balloon and parachute acts were introduced at the end of the 18th century.
The amusements that give the parks their name often include exhibits, displays, and theatrical presentations. But the rides have traditionally been the favorite kind of attraction. The most venerable of these is the merry-go-round, or carousel (called a roundabout in England). It had its beginnings in medieval jousting tournaments, specifically in the sport of ring-spearing. Knights demonstrated their horsemanship and skill with a lance by riding full speed at a suspended ring and attempting to spear it. Noble children were trained to ride using a rotating device with suspended wooden horses that was pushed around by servants.

The roller coaster is an adaptation of the ice slides built for public amusement in Russia as early as 1650. Up to 70 feet (21 meters) high, these were timber frames supporting a 40- to 50-degree incline covered with frozen water. A French traveler took the idea to Paris but replaced the ice with an inclined carriage track. The earliest of these roller coasters, built in 1804, was called the Russian Mountains.