The free port of Livorno and the transformation of the Mediterranean world, 1574-1790 / Corey Tazzara.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tazzara, Corey, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Livorno (Italy)--History--17th century.

Livorno (Italy).

Livorno (Italy)--History--18th century.

Physical Description:

xvi, 346 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Free port of Livorno & the transformation of the Mediterranean world, fifteen hundred seventy four-seventeen ninety

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In the twilight of the Renaissance, the grand duke a Tuscany-a scion of the fabled Medici family of bankers-invited foreign merchants, artisans, and ship captains to settle in his port city of Livorno. The town quickly became one of the most bustling port cities in the Mediterranean, presenting a rich tableau of officials, merchants, mariners, and slaves. Nobody could have predicted in 1600 that their activities would contribute a chapter in the history of free trade. Yet by the late seventeenth century, the grand duke's invitation had evolved into a general program of hospitality towards foreign visitors, the liberal treatment of goods, and a model for the elimination of customs duties. Livorno was the earliest and most successful example of a free port in Europe. The story of Livorno shows the seeds of liberalism emerging, not from the studies of philosophers such as Adam Smith, but out of the nexus between commerce, politics, and identity in the early modern Mediterranean. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Livorno and Political Economy in the Late Renaissance 20

2 Insecurity and Opportunity in the Middle Sea 48

3 Institutions, Information, and the Invention of Free Trade 78

4 Governance and Tax Collection in a Free Port 105

5 Disembedding the Marketplace 137

6 Brokering Trade in the Central Mediterranean 166

7 Livorno and the Science of Commerce in Enlightenment Tuscany 202

8 Free Trade before Liberalism 232.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-323) and index.

ISBN:

0198791585

9780198791584

OCLC:

987428557