O comércio na República de Veneza através da historiografia

Abstract

The Serenissima Republic of Venice established the foundations of its mercantile primacy from the 13th century onwards. Through the trade carried out between East and West, Venetian merchants prospered, confident that the city would become an attractive hub for business, throughout the 13th and 15th centuries. The article seeks to understand the trade of Venice, highlighting the end of the fourteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth century. Period in which the city becomes the center of a relatively extensive empire and conquers its predominance in the spice trade of the eastern Mediterranean. A perspective to be explored highlights naval power, the Venetian colonies and diplomatic relations as key elements for Venice's mercantile dominance. Without neglecting to highlight the role of merchants in the transactions of lucrative Western spices and metals, which contributed to the strengthening of commercial and cultural relations between West and East. In order to understand the factors that made possible the commercial primacy of Venice, the works “Venice, a marine republic”, by Frederic Lane, “Imperial Venice (1380-1580)” by D. S. Chambers and “City of Fortune – How Venice ruled the seas” by Roger Crowley, are left in the present work.