Page 33 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 33
2
Assistance to Ships and Cargo Handling
in the Early Modern Port of Genoa
Luisa Piccinno
University of Genoa, Department of Economics
Introduction
Each port is confronted with different operational problems, posed by
its harbour, traffic features, economic policies established by the govern-
ment with jurisdiction over the port, or by other structural factors that
are likely to change with time. During the early modern age, following the
commercial revolution that had taken place two centuries earlier and the
subsequent changes in maritime transport, as well as in the circulation of
goods and capital, wide swaths of Western Europe underwent sweeping
economic and social changes. The population was growing, albeit slowly,
and becoming increasingly concentrated in urban areas. At the same time,
the volume and variety of traded products were growing, while the net-
work of maritime traffic was expanding to include the New World. Some
scholars have described this new scenario as the first globalization age
(Flynn and Giraldez 2004, 81–108). In this context, the Mediterranean,
while lying far from the new transoceanic routes, actually managed not
to become a peripheral sea. Rather, it became a dynamic region, where
each port was an integral part of a more extensive merchant network,
with Atlantic ports playing the leading role. Mediterranean port cities,
with their vitality and dense network of economic relations, became net-
work hubs with significant traffic flows reaching out from the sea into the
mainland.
The port of Genoa – examined here from the beginning of the six-
teenth century to the years immediately following the fall of the Republic
and the advent of the Savoy rule – is the perfect case in point. When
the glorious days of the Maritime Republics were over and their Black
Sea colonies lost at the beginning of the modern age, Genoese mer-
Mellinato, Giulio, Aleksander Panjek, eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime
Port Cities: The Northern Adriatic in a Comparative Perspective.
Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem. https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-191-9.33-49
33
Assistance to Ships and Cargo Handling
in the Early Modern Port of Genoa
Luisa Piccinno
University of Genoa, Department of Economics
Introduction
Each port is confronted with different operational problems, posed by
its harbour, traffic features, economic policies established by the govern-
ment with jurisdiction over the port, or by other structural factors that
are likely to change with time. During the early modern age, following the
commercial revolution that had taken place two centuries earlier and the
subsequent changes in maritime transport, as well as in the circulation of
goods and capital, wide swaths of Western Europe underwent sweeping
economic and social changes. The population was growing, albeit slowly,
and becoming increasingly concentrated in urban areas. At the same time,
the volume and variety of traded products were growing, while the net-
work of maritime traffic was expanding to include the New World. Some
scholars have described this new scenario as the first globalization age
(Flynn and Giraldez 2004, 81–108). In this context, the Mediterranean,
while lying far from the new transoceanic routes, actually managed not
to become a peripheral sea. Rather, it became a dynamic region, where
each port was an integral part of a more extensive merchant network,
with Atlantic ports playing the leading role. Mediterranean port cities,
with their vitality and dense network of economic relations, became net-
work hubs with significant traffic flows reaching out from the sea into the
mainland.
The port of Genoa – examined here from the beginning of the six-
teenth century to the years immediately following the fall of the Republic
and the advent of the Savoy rule – is the perfect case in point. When
the glorious days of the Maritime Republics were over and their Black
Sea colonies lost at the beginning of the modern age, Genoese mer-
Mellinato, Giulio, Aleksander Panjek, eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime
Port Cities: The Northern Adriatic in a Comparative Perspective.
Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem. https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-191-9.33-49
33
