“Letters from Genoa”: moving information, goods and assets in the seventeenth century

• Tosco, Giorgio ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Pavia

     University of Pavia

     Pavía, Italia

     
• Localización: More than homesickness: minorities and the transference of goods in the Mediterranean (1492–1956) / coord. por José Alberto Tavim, Hugo Martins, 2024, ISBN 978-972-778-389-2
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Literature often emphasises the gradual evolution of merchant practices that became more and more sophisticated and accessible as they moved from the Medieval Mediterranean to early modern Northwestern Europe. However, an analysis of seventeenth‑century Genoa complicates this view as the local commercial environment was characterised by many different and relatively accessible institutions. By drawing on a diverse collection of documents, mainly notarial records and mercantile letters, and on Italian secondary literature, I will outline how Genoese and foreign merchants based in the city transferred goods and assets. I will describe the functioning of business correspondence, powers of attorney and bills of exchange, and analyse how the use of these instruments was influenced by informal networks.