Page 72 - 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. 72
plex Gateways
of the charter it is explicitly stated that ‘every nation, in order to advance
trade in the city of Rijeka or Trieste or outside of it, is to build a public
building or apartment, and for that purpose, it can buy land, or acquire it
in another way…’ (Dubrović 2001, 321).
The Emperor encouraged the development of Rijeka, and ordered
the building of the Lazaretto of St Charles Borromeo with a special se-
cure harbour, a mandracchio, with an inn for merchants and warehous-
es for goods. Other harbour facilities were also set up, and the Carolina
Road was built that connected Rijeka with Karlovac, from where the
Pannonian granary was reached via rivers. In a gesture of support for the
development of the port, the Emperor sailed from Trieste to Rijeka in the
summer of 1728 and personally opened the new road, and then travelled
by carriage to Karlovac from where he continued onto Vienna.
However, he was not particularly happy with the development of
Rijeka’s port. Trieste, in contrast, was developing rapidly and all the traf-
fic between the Austrian interior and the Littoral was directed to this
port, which proved to be sufficient for the trading needs of the Austrian
Hereditary Lands. By the middle of the century, when the Littoral of
Trieste was reorganized, the region gained even more importance. Even
traffic from the newly-conquered countries in the east (the so-called Terre
neoaquiste – Banat, or the Timişoara banat) was directed here (Dubrović
2019, 43–51). However, due to the considerable distance and unfavour-
able conditions, neither the Trieste nor Rijeka traffic from the interi-
or of Hungary and the Banat managed to develop more seriously for a
long time (Dubrović 2010, 79–90). Not even the settlement of Orthodox
Christian merchants (who began to arrive as early as 1717 from Bosnia
and southern Adriatic regions and for whom the possibility of equal busi-
ness practice was guaranteed) was capable of being a particular incentive.
In short, no single local or foreign merchant was able to be the founder of
any significant development.
The successful Company in Ostend
The large English and Dutch East India and West India companies had al-
ready strengthened themselves in the seventeenth century in the strug-
gle to conquer colonies and profits. Following the model of these great
companies, the first Austrian Oriental company was founded in Vienna
back in 1667, and it operated in both Trieste and Rijeka. However, it was
72
of the charter it is explicitly stated that ‘every nation, in order to advance
trade in the city of Rijeka or Trieste or outside of it, is to build a public
building or apartment, and for that purpose, it can buy land, or acquire it
in another way…’ (Dubrović 2001, 321).
The Emperor encouraged the development of Rijeka, and ordered
the building of the Lazaretto of St Charles Borromeo with a special se-
cure harbour, a mandracchio, with an inn for merchants and warehous-
es for goods. Other harbour facilities were also set up, and the Carolina
Road was built that connected Rijeka with Karlovac, from where the
Pannonian granary was reached via rivers. In a gesture of support for the
development of the port, the Emperor sailed from Trieste to Rijeka in the
summer of 1728 and personally opened the new road, and then travelled
by carriage to Karlovac from where he continued onto Vienna.
However, he was not particularly happy with the development of
Rijeka’s port. Trieste, in contrast, was developing rapidly and all the traf-
fic between the Austrian interior and the Littoral was directed to this
port, which proved to be sufficient for the trading needs of the Austrian
Hereditary Lands. By the middle of the century, when the Littoral of
Trieste was reorganized, the region gained even more importance. Even
traffic from the newly-conquered countries in the east (the so-called Terre
neoaquiste – Banat, or the Timişoara banat) was directed here (Dubrović
2019, 43–51). However, due to the considerable distance and unfavour-
able conditions, neither the Trieste nor Rijeka traffic from the interi-
or of Hungary and the Banat managed to develop more seriously for a
long time (Dubrović 2010, 79–90). Not even the settlement of Orthodox
Christian merchants (who began to arrive as early as 1717 from Bosnia
and southern Adriatic regions and for whom the possibility of equal busi-
ness practice was guaranteed) was capable of being a particular incentive.
In short, no single local or foreign merchant was able to be the founder of
any significant development.
The successful Company in Ostend
The large English and Dutch East India and West India companies had al-
ready strengthened themselves in the seventeenth century in the strug-
gle to conquer colonies and profits. Following the model of these great
companies, the first Austrian Oriental company was founded in Vienna
back in 1667, and it operated in both Trieste and Rijeka. However, it was
72
