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2013 Award of the Portuguese Association of Economic and Social History (Associação Portuguesa de História Económica e Social (APHES)) for the research of the Indo-Portuguese copper trade during the first half of the 16th century titled:... more
2013 Award of the Portuguese Association of Economic and Social History (Associação Portuguesa de História Económica e Social (APHES)) for the research of the Indo-Portuguese copper trade during the first half of the 16th century titled: “The Indo-Portuguese commerce in the 16th century – Revision of the Copper-Pepper Trade and the “Carreira da Índia”, Braga, Portugal, November 15, 2013
MA Thesis in Maritime History (Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University FLUL, 2014) - revised version The present thesis Shipwrecks of the “Carreira da Índia” (1595-1623) – Sources for the Study in Portuguese Maritime History deals with... more
MA Thesis in Maritime History (Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University FLUL, 2014) - revised version

The present thesis Shipwrecks of the “Carreira da Índia” (1595-1623) – Sources
for the Study in Portuguese Maritime History deals with factors which caused losses of
ships of the Carreira da Índia which linked the European metropolis Lisbon with its
Goa based Estado da Índia between 1595 and 1623. Although Portuguese-Asiatic
shipping was formally separated from the Habsburg Empire during the Union of the
Two Iberian Crowns (1580-1640), the European policies of the Spanish Kings,
especially towards the United Provinces and the Netherlands had its influence and
effects on the Portuguese side.
Shipwrecks, either on the outward bound or homeward bound voyages had
occurred for various reasons since the early days of the Carreira da Índia yet the
emergence of the two private European Companies, the Dutch United East India
Company (founded in 1602) and the British East India Company (founded in 1600)
were a new momentum by which’s characteristics of concurrence and struggle for
supremacy of the European-Asiatic spice trade, losses of Portuguese ships were caused
by planned and executed military operations as well.
Focusing on the geographical region of the Mozambique Channel in which the
losses have taken place, the thesis combines a historiographical approach with records
of underwater archaeology analyzing questions related to the political environment and
planed military operations in which shipwrecks have occurred as well as causes of
shipwrecks observing ship building and design modifications and effects related to
economic patterns such as the monetary flows of the Portuguese outward bound
shipping during the period of observation.

Naufragios da Careira da Índia (1595-1623)
Research Interests:
Naval Architecture, History, European History, History of Science and Technology, Military History, and 152 more
In dem Kapitel wird die Bedeutung von Forst und Wald als Ressource für die frühneuzeitliche Glasproduktion, speziell im Thüringer Wald und dem Thüringisch-Fränkischen Schiefergebirge betrachtet.... more
In dem Kapitel wird die Bedeutung von Forst und Wald als Ressource für die frühneuzeitliche Glasproduktion, speziell im Thüringer Wald und dem Thüringisch-Fränkischen Schiefergebirge betrachtet. https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/821/c14186 This chapter anylises the importance of forestry for Early Modern glass-production sites, esp. in the vicinities of the Thuringian Forest (Central Germany).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362813793_Der_Wald_als_Ressource_fur_die_fruhneuzeitliche_Glasproduktion
Abstract This article examines the socio-economic relations between two distinct trade partners over a time span of a hundred years: the Kingdom of Portugal on the one hand and the Hanseatic League on the other hand. By reconsidering the... more
Abstract
This article examines the socio-economic relations between two distinct trade
partners over a time span of a hundred years: the Kingdom of Portugal on
the one hand and the Hanseatic League on the other hand. By reconsidering
the legal conditions of long distance trade at the end of the Late Middle
Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance Period, the study also aims to
define the Hanseatic League as one of Portugal’s trade partners by looking
at its characteristics along with two of the most important commodities of
exchange: salt and timber.
Keywords
Portugal, Hanseatic League, privileges, salt trade, timber trade, 15th to 16th
centuries.
PORTUGAL E A EUROPA
NOS SÉCULOS XV E XVI.
Olhares, relações, identidade(s)
chapter on Hamburg´s sugar importer during the 18th Century and their trade relations with Bordeaux and Lisbon

in:

Klaus Weber, Jutta Wimmler (eds). Globalized Peripheries. Central and Eastern Europe´s Atlantic Histories, c- 1680-1860
Research Interests:
Lisbon, Cádiz and Seville are the three most prominent Atlantic port cities of the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to ancient times. Olisippo and Gadir/Gades had been major Phoenician port cities, which were later taken over by the ex-... more
Lisbon, Cádiz and Seville are the three most prominent Atlantic port cities of
the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to ancient times. Olisippo and Gadir/Gades
had been major Phoenician port cities, which were later taken over by the ex-
panding Roman Empire. These cities were among the few Atlantic outposts of
ancient Mediterranean shipping, which only meagerly extended further south
along the African coast or north along the European coast. Hispalis, too, had
a Phoenician background and was also taken by Rome during the Punic Wars.
Although the Christian Reconquista had begun to gather momentum in
the 12th century with the capture of Lisbon (1147), it was the conquest of the
southern strongholds of Seville (1248) and Tarifa (1298) that made shipping
through the Straits of Gibraltar more secure. As a direct result, European ship-
ping began to connect the Mediterranean with the North Sea regions, benefit-
ing the coastal port cities of southern and western Iberia. By the 14th century,
the volume of bulk commodities being moved between these regions via mari-
time routes was probably 40 times larger than the volume transported on the
long-established transalpine land routes.1 Portugal’s coastal areas—hitherto
the poor and unsafe western periphery of Christian Europe—became a hub
for maritime trade. Portuguese shipping established the role of connecting the
Mediterranean with Northern European areas, aligned with the role played by
Dutch shipping in commerce between Western Europe and the North Sea and
Baltic region. Competing claims of the Iberian powers on newly discovered
lands and seas were settled with the Treaties of Alcáçovas (1479, allocating
Africa and the Atlantic south of Cabo Bojador to Portugal), Tordesillas (1494, of Lisbon, Seville allocating the Americas, even though hardly discovered, to Spain), and Zara-
goza (1529, allocating most of the Asian waters and lands to Portugal).2 All
other European sea powers were excluded from these vast spaces. This became
the underlying cause of military conflicts between the Catholic Iberian pow-
ers and northern (and increasingly Protestant) seafaring nations. Regardless of
clashes, Lisbon, Seville, and Cádiz, in particular, became Europe’s first major
ports to the New Worlds.
Hermann Kellenbenz and the German-Portuguese economic relationships during the 16th century main aspects: Studies of Hermann Kellenbenz royal Portuguese privileges Upper German merchants Hanseatic League socio-economic relations... more
Hermann Kellenbenz and the German-Portuguese economic relationships during the 16th century

main aspects:
Studies of Hermann Kellenbenz
royal Portuguese privileges
Upper German merchants
Hanseatic League
socio-economic relations
Transition from Late Middle Ages towards Early Modern Period
Central Europe and the Atlantic Maritime Expansion
Central Europe and South-East Asia
Historical background of the Portuguese Shipwrck Nossa Senhora da Consolação (1608 off Mozambique Island)
in: The Excavation of the Nossa Senhora da Consolação (1608)
Research Interests:
Naval Architecture, Historical Geography, Portuguese History, Maritime History, Naval Warfare, and 42 more
Guest lecture at the international research training group program "Baltic Borderlands" für das Sommersemester 2014 "States, Stories, Agents and Perspectives - Bordering Spaces" Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Greifswald, Germany... more
Guest lecture at the international research training group program "Baltic Borderlands" für das Sommersemester 2014 "States, Stories, Agents and Perspectives - Bordering Spaces"

Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Greifswald, Germany
15.04.2014
Research Interests:
History, European History, Economic History, Art History, Southeast Asian Studies, and 49 more
Conference "Glasobjekte im höfischen Kontext. Produktion, Nutzung und Wirkung in der Frühen Neuzeit (1500-1800)" This conference takes place from November 21st to November 23rd 2019 at castle Heidecksburg (Schloß Heidecksburg) in... more
Conference "Glasobjekte im höfischen Kontext. Produktion, Nutzung und Wirkung in der Frühen Neuzeit (1500-1800)"
This conference takes place from November 21st to November 23rd 2019 at castle Heidecksburg (Schloß Heidecksburg) in Rudolstadt, Thuringia (Germany).
For further information please take a look at the preliminary program below or at our researchgate site:

https://www.researchgate.net/project/Glas-Material-Funktion-und-Bedeutung-zwischen-1600-und-1800-in-der-Grafschaft-Schwarzburg-Thueringen

With kind regards.
Research Interests:
Comparing data from Portuguese and Hamburg sources on commodity flows
methodological criticism and possibilities of crossing merchandises

Conference: XVIIIth WEHC 2018 Boston (MA) USAAt: Boston (MA) USA
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
European History, Economic History, African Studies, European Studies, Latin American Studies, and 115 more
Conference: International trade and the economy, 1600-1800 19. - 20.10.2017 Université Paris-Dauphine The socio-economic relations of the Atlantic economies per sé and the entanglement of Central Europe within these commercial... more
Conference:
International trade and the economy, 1600-1800
19. - 20.10.2017
Université Paris-Dauphine


The socio-economic relations of the Atlantic economies per sé and the entanglement of Central Europe within these commercial structures during the early modern period have been subject to quite an extensive historiographical production of macro and micro perspectives.
However, most of the studies are rather situated within a ‘national’ English, French, Portuguese or Spanish framework than being of a comparative nature.
This paper will analise the socio-economic relations between the French and Portuguese Atlantic and Hamburg, the latter being one of the major hubs for the Central European hinterland regions during the last decades of the 18th century. Based on statistical data from the French Chambre du Commerce and the Portuguese Junta do Comércio on the one hand and the Hamburg Admiralty Customs Records (Admiralitätszoll), this paper will demonstrate the historical development of the French and Portuguese sugar and coffee trade with Central Europe, one of the major consumer markets for colonial produce at that time.

Torsten dos Santos Arnold (Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany)
Maria Cristina Moreira (EEG, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal)
Research Interests:
with Prof. Dr. Klaus Weber, Europa-Universität Viadrina (Frankfurt/ ODer) Kaufleute, Bankiers, Sklavenhändler: die Deutschen in Cádiz, Nantes und Bordeaux (Merchants, Bankers, Slave Traders: the Germans in Cádiz, Nantes and Bordeaux)... more
with Prof. Dr. Klaus Weber, Europa-Universität Viadrina (Frankfurt/ ODer)

Kaufleute, Bankiers, Sklavenhändler: die Deutschen in Cádiz, Nantes und Bordeaux
(Merchants, Bankers, Slave Traders: the Germans in Cádiz, Nantes and Bordeaux)

12. Arbeitstagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Frühe Neuzeit im Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands
Das Meer. Maritime Welten in der Frühen Neuzeit

Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, 5.-7. Oktober 2017
12th Conference of the Working Group on Early Modern History in the German Historians' Association
The Sea: Maritime Worlds in the Early Modern Period

Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, 5-7 October 2017
Research Interests:
Economic History, French History, Early Modern History, German History, Maritime History, and 23 more
Conference Paper · September 2016 Conference: Central Europe and Colonialism: Migrations, Knowledges, Perspectives, Commodities, at Wroclaw, Poland Presentation of a comparative approach towards the socio-economic relations between... more
Conference Paper · September 2016

Conference: Central Europe and Colonialism: Migrations, Knowledges, Perspectives, Commodities, at Wroclaw, Poland

Presentation of a comparative approach towards the socio-economic relations between Western and Southwestern European Atlantic Empires and Central Europe during the Early Modern Period with a special focus on commodity flows and merchant networks (Hamburg, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Cádiz)
Research Interests:
Central European Trade via French and Portuguese Seaports. 1714-1830
at the
Kulturgeschichtliches Kolloquium, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
03.05.2016
Research Interests:
- Portugal and the Hanse. A revision of the salt and timber trade in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries - Conference talk on the socio-economic relations between Portugal and the Hanseatic League at the turn of the 15th century C... more
- Portugal and the Hanse. A revision of the salt and timber trade in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries -
Conference talk on the socio-economic relations between Portugal and the Hanseatic League at the turn of the 15th century

C O N G R E S S O I N T E R N A C I O N A L
Portugal e a Europa  -  Nos séculos XV e XVI Olhares, relações, identidade(s)

Lisboa | Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas – Universidade Nova de Lisboa | 20-21 Abril, 2017
Research Interests:
"Hanses e Estrelins em Lisboa na viragem do século XV para o século XVI" - "Hanseatic and Easterling merchants in Lisbon at the turn of the 15th to the 16th century" Workshop "Imagens da Europa em Portugal nos séculos XV e XVI" -... more
"Hanses e Estrelins em Lisboa na viragem do século XV para o século XVI" - "Hanseatic and Easterling merchants in Lisbon at the turn of the 15th to the 16th century"

Workshop
"Imagens da Europa em Portugal nos séculos XV e XVI" - "Images of Europe in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries"

12.03.2015
Lisbon (Portugal)
CHAM-FCSH
Research Interests:
"Os Mercadores da Liga Hanseática em Lisboa na Viragem do século XV para o século XVI" "Merchants of the Hanseatic League in Lisbon at the turn of the 15th towards the 16th century" Workshop "Comunidades Estrangeiras em Lisboa (Séculos... more
"Os Mercadores da Liga Hanseática em Lisboa na Viragem do século XV para o século XVI"
"Merchants of the Hanseatic League in Lisbon at the turn of the 15th towards the 16th century"

Workshop
"Comunidades Estrangeiras em Lisboa (Séculos XV a XVIII)"
"Foreign comunities in Lisbon (15th - 18th centurz)"

Lisbon, Portugal
21.01.2015
Research Interests:
(focussing on the Upper German merchants and the Hanseatic League) Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, National Library of Portugal 20.11.2014 Lisbon, Portugal in: INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP "Renaissance Craftsmen and Humanistic... more
(focussing on the Upper German merchants and the Hanseatic League)

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, National Library of Portugal
20.11.2014
Lisbon, Portugal

in:

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP "Renaissance Craftsmen and Humanistic Scholars: European Circulation of Knowledge between Portugal and Germany"

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, National Library of Portugal
20.11.-21.11.2014
Lisbon, Portugal
Conference and Opening Speech for the Exposition "Hermann Kellenbenz (1913-1990) ao Serviço da História", National Library of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal, 04.02.2014
Research Interests:
communication held at the 39th annual conference of the Economic and Business History Society, Manchester UK, 29.05.-31.05.2014
Research Interests:
communication presented at the 33rd annual conference of the Portuguese Association of Economic and Social History (APHES), Braga, Portugal, 15.11-16.11.2013 awarded with the 2013 price for the best research presented by young... more
communication presented at the 33rd annual conference of the Portuguese Association of Economic and Social History (APHES), Braga, Portugal, 15.11-16.11.2013

awarded with the 2013 price for the best research presented by young researchers of the year in the area of economic and social history
Research Interests:
International Seminar "A Sociedade e a Grande Guerra" - "The Great War and Society", Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University, Portugal, 13.11.2014 Place: Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University Alameda da Universidade 1600-214 Lisbon... more
International Seminar "A Sociedade e a Grande Guerra" - "The Great War and Society", Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University, Portugal, 13.11.2014

Place:

Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University
Alameda da Universidade
1600-214 Lisbon
Anfiteatro III (Central Building)
14:00 Western European Winter Time
Entrance: Free
Research Interests:
International Seminar "Paz na Guerra - Neutrality during World War I"

Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University
Alameda da Universidade
1600-214 Lisbon
Anfiteatro III (Central Building)
10:30 Western European Winter Time
Entrance: Free
Research Interests:
Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University, Portugal, 28.11.2011
Research Interests:
Book review (english) on "Poettering, Jorun, “Handel, Nation und Religion – Kaufleute zwischen Hamburg und Portugal im 17. Jahrhundert“. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013. ISBN: 978-3-525-31022-9" published in: E-Journal of... more
Book review (english) on "Poettering, Jorun, “Handel, Nation und Religion – Kaufleute zwischen Hamburg und Portugal im 17. Jahrhundert“. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013. ISBN: 978-3-525-31022-9"

published in: E-Journal of Portuguese History , No. 13.2 , Dec. 2015
Research Interests:
European History, Economic History, German History, Portuguese History, Early Modern Portuguese History, and 54 more
commissioned encyclopedia entry on Hermann Kellenbenz (1913-1990), German historian who wrote about Portugue and Iberian Economic and Scocial History as well as Iberian Expansion and Overseas History Co-author: Jeanette Granda, Jena,... more
commissioned encyclopedia entry on Hermann Kellenbenz (1913-1990), German historian who wrote about Portugue and Iberian Economic and Scocial History as well as Iberian Expansion and Overseas History

Co-author: Jeanette Granda, Jena, Germany
commissioned encyclopedia entry on the Indo-Portuguese and European-Asitaic copper trade during the first half of the 16th century in: Dicionário da Expansão Portuguesa 1415-1600
commissioned encyclopedia entry on the economic relations between Portugal and the Hanseatic League (Hansa) in: Dicionário da Expansão Portuguesa 1415-1600
commissioned encyclopedia entry on the Portuguese ship type Nau in: The Sea in World History: Exploration, Travel, and Trade (ABC-Clio)
commissioned encyclopedia entry on Mozambique Island in: The Sea in World History: Exploration, Travel, and Trade (ABC-Clio)
commissioned encyclopedia entry on the Estado da Índia (Portuguese India State) in: The Sea in World History: Exploration, Travel, and Trade (ABC-Clio)
commissioned encyclopedia entry on Portugal (1450-1770) in: The Sea in World History: Exploration, Travel, and Trade (ABC-Clio)
Call for Papers Globalized Peripheries New Approaches to the Atlantic World 1680–1850 Date: July 5th–7th, 2018 Place: European University Viadrina (Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany) Possible topics include but are not limited to: • The... more
Call for Papers
Globalized Peripheries
New Approaches to the Atlantic World 1680–1850
Date: July 5th–7th, 2018
Place: European University Viadrina
(Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany)

Possible topics include but are not limited to:
• The exchange and movement of goods and people across
the oceans
• Merchants and merchant networks
• Consumption and material culture
• (Proto-)Industrial production and development
• Theories of political economy
• (Religious) Minorities as agents of trade
• Gender from a global perspective
• Theoretical and methodological approaches to “Atlantic
History” and/or “centers” and “peripheries”
Although the conference has no specific regional focus, we explicitly invite papers focused on the following “peripheries” of the Atlantic World and/or its historiography:
• Central and Eastern Europe
• West and West Central Africa
• South Asia

Proposals of ca. 300 words as well as a short CV (max. 1 page) should be sent to: globalized-peripheries@europa-uni.de
by October 15th, 2017.

We only accept proposals sent electronically to this e-mail address. Feel free to contact us at this address should you have any further questions. Please also indicate if you would like us to consider your proposal for publication.
We look forward to receiving your proposals!
Klaus Weber, Jutta Wimmler, Anka Steffen & Torsten dos Santos Arnold
www.kuwi.europa-uni.de/globalized-peripheries
Research Interests:
History, American History, European History, History of Science and Technology, Military History, and 331 more
Exposition "Hermann Kellenbenz (1913-1990) ao Serviço da História", National Library of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal, 04.02.2014-01.03.2014

Please note:

to download the file please click directly on the "Download" button
Research Interests:
European History, German History, Portuguese History, Maritime History, Historiography, and 28 more
Hello. I would kindly like to ask you if you have knowledge about any published statistical data of the textile exports of the Companhia Geral do Comércio de Pernambuco e Paraíba like the books of António Carreira about the Companhia... more
Hello.
I would kindly like to ask you if you have knowledge about any published statistical data of the textile exports of the Companhia Geral do Comércio de Pernambuco e Paraíba like the books of António Carreira about the Companhia Geral do Comércio de Grão-Pará e Maranhão.
Thank you very much
Torsten
Research Interests:
Hello, in this session, I´d like to discuss with you the differences between the Portuguese Casa da Índia and the Spanish Casa da Contratación. What were the similarities or differences regarding the administration, privileges and... more
Hello,

in this session, I´d like to discuss with you the differences between the Portuguese Casa da Índia and the Spanish Casa da Contratación. What were the similarities or differences regarding the administration, privileges and operating modes? What changed during the course of the 16th to the 18th centuries?
Is there any recent comparative study already published? Is there any “History of Institutions” approach existing? What literature should be read?

With best regards
Torsten

Literature:

Godinho, Vitorino Magalhães, Os Descobrimentos e a Economia Mundial.Lisbon: Presença, 1984. 2nd edition, 4 vols.
Pery, José Cervera, La Casa de Contratación y el Consejo de Indias : (las razones de un superministerio). Madrid: Ministerio de Defesa, 1997.
To be continued
Research Interests:
History, European History, Economic History, Latin American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean History, and 40 more
This publication deals with the archaeological artifacts, esp. the copper ingots, found off the the coast of Mozambique. Besides the archaeological report, it includes the historical background of the Indo-Portuguese "Copper-Pepper-Trade"... more
This publication deals with the archaeological artifacts, esp. the copper ingots, found off the the coast of Mozambique. Besides the archaeological report, it includes the historical background of the Indo-Portuguese "Copper-Pepper-Trade" during the first half of the 16th century as well as the archaeometallurgical analyses of the copper ingots and their provenance from Neusohl, nowadays Banská Bystrica (Slovakia). The copper ingots were produced at the later stage of the Fugger-Thurzo company. It stands in line with the findings and research of the 1533 Bom Jesus wreck off Namibia. I would like to see some more research about this subject, f. I., the 1527 wreck off Cornwall or the Gdansk Bay wreck and lead isotope analyses. It would be perfect for an entangled connected history of mining, trade and maybe cultural history. The use of copper in India or Southeast Asia at that time can't be only explained by raw material for coins of low monetary value or canon production, I guess. #copper #Fugger #Fugger-Thurzo #shipwreck #Kupfer #Neusohl
Research Interests:
This paper analyzes the Mozambique Channel as passage of the Portuguese shipping route to India, the Carreira da India.
Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University, Portugal, 28.11.2011
International Seminar "Paz na Guerra - Neutrality during World War I" Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University Alameda da Universidade 1600-214 Lisbon Anfiteatro III (Central Building) 10:30 Western European Winter Time... more
International Seminar "Paz na Guerra - Neutrality during World War I" Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University Alameda da Universidade 1600-214 Lisbon Anfiteatro III (Central Building) 10:30 Western European Winter Time Entrance: Free
The Indo-Portuguese commerce of the 16th century is often reffered to as the the period time of the Copper-Pepper contractsderriving from the direct relationship between these two major trade goods. Portugal dominated the spice trade with... more
The Indo-Portuguese commerce of the 16th century is often reffered to as the the period time of the Copper-Pepper contractsderriving from the direct relationship between these two major trade goods. Portugal dominated the spice trade with the Orient but did not have sufficient quantities of domestic copper, the major trade commodity used in exchange for the spices. On the other hand, German merchant houses such as the Welsers and Fuggers, were struggling to obtain control over the copper trade, over time, the Fuggers had gained the monopole of the mines of the Habsburg empire. The present proposal for a communication at the 2014 EBHS conference aims to provide information regarding the following aspects: I: Reconstructing the historical development and events during the first half of the 16th century, the Age of Discoveries, by showing the commerce emphasizing on the knowledge derrived from the letters of Rui Fernandes de Almada, a Portuguese diplomat who, between 1519 and 1520, was...
Lisbon, Cádiz and Seville are the three most prominent Atlantic port cities of the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to ancient times. Olisippo and Gadir/Gades had been major Phoenician port cities, which were later taken over by the ex-... more
Lisbon, Cádiz and Seville are the three most prominent Atlantic port cities of the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to ancient times. Olisippo and Gadir/Gades had been major Phoenician port cities, which were later taken over by the ex- panding Roman Empire. These cities were among the few Atlantic outposts of ancient Mediterranean shipping, which only meagerly extended further south along the African coast or north along the European coast. Hispalis, too, had a Phoenician background and was also taken by Rome during the Punic Wars. Although the Christian Reconquista had begun to gather momentum in the 12th century with the capture of Lisbon (1147), it was the conquest of the southern strongholds of Seville (1248) and Tarifa (1298) that made shipping through the Straits of Gibraltar more secure. As a direct result, European ship- ping began to connect the Mediterranean with the North Sea regions, benefit- ing the coastal port cities of southern and western Iberia. By the 14th century, the volume of bulk commodities being moved between these regions via mari- time routes was probably 40 times larger than the volume transported on the long-established transalpine land routes.1 Portugal’s coastal areas—hitherto the poor and unsafe western periphery of Christian Europe—became a hub for maritime trade. Portuguese shipping established the role of connecting the Mediterranean with Northern European areas, aligned with the role played by Dutch shipping in commerce between Western Europe and the North Sea and Baltic region. Competing claims of the Iberian powers on newly discovered lands and seas were settled with the Treaties of Alcáçovas (1479, allocating Africa and the Atlantic south of Cabo Bojador to Portugal), Tordesillas (1494, of Lisbon, Seville allocating the Americas, even though hardly discovered, to Spain), and Zara- goza (1529, allocating most of the Asian waters and lands to Portugal).2 All other European sea powers were excluded from these vast spaces. This became the underlying cause of military conflicts between the Catholic Iberian pow- ers and northern (and increasingly Protestant) seafaring nations. Regardless of clashes, Lisbon, Seville, and Cádiz, in particular, became Europe’s first major ports to the New Worlds.
<jats:p>Applying a comparative and cross-national approach, this article is based on case studies of four representative European Atlantic port cities, namely Nantes, Bordeaux, Lisbon and Cádiz, and their socio-economic relations... more
<jats:p>Applying a comparative and cross-national approach, this article is based on case studies of four representative European Atlantic port cities, namely Nantes, Bordeaux, Lisbon and Cádiz, and their socio-economic relations with Hamburg, one of Central Europe's most important marketplaces. Based on quantitative data of commodity flows towards and from the Atlantic basin, it also analyses the role of German and German-speaking merchant communities that were established in these metropolitan port cities. The article will show how these foreigners circumvented the respective monopolies that excluded them from direct trade with French, Portuguese and Spanish colonies. These monopolies crumbled only during the era of the Atlantic Revolutions and the disintegration of the respective empires.</jats:p>