Trading Places: The Netherlandish Merchants in Early Modern Venice (Library of Economic History, 1)

Trading Places is winner of the triennial Historical Research Award of Italy Studies (2012). This book deals with the Netherlandish merchant community in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Venice. It examines the merchants' commercial activities, their social and communal relations, as well as their interaction with the Venetian state, which was accustomed to protect its own trade. The Netherlandish merchants in Venice, as part of an extensive international trading network, were ideally placed to connect Mediterranean and Atlantic commerce. They quickly became the most important group of foreign merchants in the city at a time of rapid economic changes. Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources, this book shows how these immigrant traders used their strong commercial position to secure a place in Venice. It demonstrates how the changing balance of international commerce affected early modern Venetian society Cover......Page 1 Trading Places......Page 2 INTRODUCTION......Page 20 CHAPTER ONE VENICE......Page 40 CHAPTER TWO UNLOCKING THE VENETIAN MARKET: CHANGING TRADE RELATIONS IN THE 1590S......Page 60 CHAPTER THREE COMBINING THE NEW WITH THE OLD: NETHERLANDISHVENETIAN TRADE AFTER THE 1590S......Page 86 CHAPTER FOUR THE COMMUNITY OF NETHERLANDISH MERCHANTS IN VENICE......Page 118 CHAPTER FIVE INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE STRATEGIES......Page 150 CHAPTER SIX AT HOME IN EARLY MODERN VENICE......Page 188 CONCLUSION......Page 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 230 INDEX......Page 250 This book deals with the Netherlandish merchant community in early modern Venice. It analyses how these immigrant traders used their commercial position to secure a place in the city and shows the consequences of the changes in international commerce for Venetian society. By Maartje Van Gelder. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [211]-230) And Index.