Trade and Institutions in the Medieval Mediterranean

Zusammenfassung The business world of the eleventh-century Geniza merchants, or 'Maghribi traders', is central to debates about the origins of long-term economic growth and the institutional bases of trade. This book maps the shifting geographic relationships of the medieval Islamic economy and explores the foundations of later European economic dominance.

Autorentext

Jessica Goldberg is Assistant Professor of Medieval History at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies the medieval history of the Mediterranean basin, Christian Europe and the Islamic world specialising in economic and legal institutions and culture.

Klappentext

This book reconstructs the business world of the eleventh-century Geniza merchants and, in doing so, rewrites medieval Islamic and Mediterranean economic history.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: two tales; Part I. Institutions: 2. Merchants in their community; 3. The uses of commercial correspondence; 4. The nature of merchants' trade; 5. The human landscape: business relationships, institutions of law and government; 6. Conclusion to Part I; Part II. Geographies: 7. The geography of information; 8. Commodities in a regional market; 9. Individual geographies of trade; 10. The contracting geography of the eleventh-century merchant network; 11. Conclusion: the Mediterranean through the eyes of Geniza merchants; Glossary of terms; Bibliography.