Conclusions: The Port Phenomenon of Medieval Atlantic Europe (original) (raw)
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This essay examines how the various processes of economic integration brought about by commercial exchanges were influenced by networks of merchants, by the different functions and capacities of ports, and by the various locations of routes established between the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the North Sea. The ports, the routes and ships, and the mentality and culture of the economic operators represent the three main themes of this study; it aims to observe and compare maritime environments which were completely different from one another, especially in terms of the size of the ports and the importance of the commercial itineraries based on them.
The Routledge Handbook of Maritime Trade around Europe 1300-1600 explores the links between maritime trading networks around Europe, from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to the North and Baltic Seas. Maritime trade routes connected diverse geographical and cultural spheres, contributing to a more integrated Europe in both cultural and material terms. This volume explores networks’ economic functions alongside their intercultural exchanges, contacts and practical arrangements in ports on the European coasts. The collection takes as its central question how shippers and merchants were able to connect regional and interregional trade circuits around and beyond Europe in the late medieval period. It is divided into four parts, with chapters in Part I looking across broad themes such as ships and sailing routes, maritime law, financial linkages and linguistic exchanges. In the following parts - divided into the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea, and the Atlantic and North Seas - contributors present case studies addressing themes including conflict resolution, relations between different types of main ports and their hinterland, the local institutional arrangements supporting maritime trade, and the advantages and challenges of locations around the continent. The volume concludes with a summary that points to the extraterritorial character of trading systems during this fascinating period of expansion. Drawing together an international team of contributors, The Routledge Handbook of Maritime Trade around Europe is a vital contribution to the study of maritime history and the history of trade. It is essential reading for students and scholars in these fields
«The governance of Atlantic ports in medieval Castile»,
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Spanish historiography has studied widely the political strategies surrounding maritime affairs, producing numerous volumes on coastal or ports realities, both local and regional. This essay offers a comparative vision of the different modes of administration in the Castilian Atlantic's ports. Firstly, to analyse the system comprising ports in the Iberian north. Secondly, to explicate the established system in the Guadalquivir's estuary and in the Bay of Cadiz. Although both systems were constructed independently, they converged in maritime traffic while displaying two distinct models of ports administration. The main differences between both models are determined by the degree of intervention of official bodies, local oligarchies, and mercantile institutions.
The Iberian Peninsula enjoyed a strategic geographic position on the long-distance routes between the Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, and on the expansion routes over the Atlantic Ocean. However, until the thirteenth century, the development of these maritime routes remained very modest, basically driven by maritime pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and the fleets of Crusaders from northern Europe who circumnavigated the Peninsula on their way to the new Christian kingdoms of the Mediterranean Levant between 1096 and 1270. From the thirteenth century onward, a shift unfolded from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic owing to political, economic and technological factors, thence granting the Atlantic façade a strategic position of the highest order within medieval commercial exchanges. The economy of the area evolved around three large hubs of growth: the Northern Cantabrian area, Lisbon to the West and Seville to the South. Urban historiography has granted priority to the study of these large ports over the smaller ones. However, investigations on maritime commerce, navigation, and port societies have proven the valuable role played by small and medium-sized ports within the “network” and have led to a correction of the myopic approach of macroeconomic studies. The foundation by royal decree of some fifty port towns between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries lay the structural foundations for the development of maritime routes along the Cantabrian coastline. In this sense, Cantabrian ports constitute a subset of the urban system of the Crown of Castile and its relations with the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, based on diverse factors such as geographic conditions, the political administrative dynamics, infrastructures, and economic and particularly commercial relationships, all of which was the object of this paper.