Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Both authors jointly wrote sections 1 and 4, while Antonio Iodice wrote section 2 and Luisa Piccinno wrote section 3. This work analyses the activities of Genoese merchant communities in the grain trade in western Mediterranean markets.
Our goal is to shed light on their ability to integrate into foreign lands, taking advantage of their privileged position within the Spanish Crown. Our analysis is focussed on two case studies, strictly connected from a theoretical point of view: Sicily and Tabarka. Both Genoese minorities living on these two islands used the port of Genoa as their commercial hub. Regarding Sicily, this study has mostly drawn information from a yet unexploited source: general average procedures drawn up in Genoa.
General average GA was and still is nowadays a legal instrument used in maritime trade to share between all parties involved the expenses which can befall ships and cargoes from the time of their loading aboard until their unloading due to accidents, jettison, etc. These documents have been collected in an online database soon to be published as part of the ERC-funded AveTransRisk project. They offer valuable insights on shipmasters and merchants, cargo values, ports of destination, wheat prices, etc.
These sources are kept in the Genoese archives as well as in the Archives Nationales of Paris. This was characterised by significant changes in international trade patterns, brought about by the opening of new trade routes and the entry of new players. At the same time, peripheral or secondary markets became more and more attractive to communities of merchants linked to traditional Mediterranean markets. The new geography of Mediterranean commercial routes offered multiple ports of call for the export of hinterland products.
These ports were connected with the main hubs and redistribution centres Blockmans et al. This system, particularly evident for the grain trade, would in turn determine or favour a more or less stable settlement of merchants belonging to foreign minorities.
