Reading "H. Matsumura - Commutative Ring theory" I had the impression that the definitions were all made to mean something in algebraic geometry afterwards. I wonder what was commutative algebra before the modern algebraic geometry (which ideas were developed, how sophisticated they were, etc).
Moreover, whether the success of algebraic geometry had inspired the expansion of commutative algebra, and how much. 
Any older reference would also be interesting (not for studying, just to figure out).
Thanks