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The Economy of Ragusa 1300-1800: The Tiger of Medieval Mediterranean

Explore the economic evolution of Ragusa from the 14th to 19th centuries, analyzing prosperity drivers, historical timeline, and cliometric hypotheses. Discover how a tiny state thrived and eventually declined.

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The Economy of Ragusa 1300-1800: The Tiger of Medieval Mediterranean

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  1. ECONOMY OF RAGUSA,1300-1800The Tiger of Mediaeval MediterraneanOleh Havrylyshyn and Nora Srzentic“There where your argosies with portly sail… Argosy (Webster’s Dict.) Do overpeer the petty traffickers…” A large merchant ship(Shakespeare Merchant of Venice)with a rich cargo…a ship of Ragusa!

  2. LAUSA (lat: cliff) becomes…RAUSAand eventually…RAGUSA

  3. OUTLINE • INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION • TIMELINE OF POLITICAL-HISTORICAL EVOLUTION, MAIN ECONOMIC PERIODS • QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS AND SOME CLIOMETRIC HYPOTHESIS TESTS • EXPLAINING RAGUSA’S PROSPERITY AND DECLINE: • CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

  4. 1.INTRODUCTIONAND MOTIVATION • DEC. THEMES,IMPACT OF GLOBAL CRISIS, REACTIONS—RESILIENCE HYPOTHESIS- • EN PRINCIP, DATA AVAILABLE IN DUB. ARHIV …VERY RICH SOURCE OF PRIMARY DATA, DETAILED RECORDS FROM AT LEAST 13TH C…..BUT… Archival work very laborious, will require more time and for future research : we scour historical literature for “hard” data and link together for a data set.

  5. ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS • MEDIAEVAL RAGUSA AN EXAMPLE OF SMALL, OPEN, PRUDENT ECONOMY WITH STRONG FUNDAMENTALS • MANY HISTORIANS PRAISE RAGUSA:Idriss (1153):large maritime town,industrious Giustiniani(1553):noble’s fortunes rival Venice Braudel : the jewel of the Adriatic Stipetic : mediaeval Adriatic Tiger Luetic : merchant fleet larger than Venice! • MAIN QUESTION ASKED: How could such a tiny state with no resources become so prosperous?

  6. PURPOSE: TEST QUANTITATIVELY COMMON EXPLANATIONS OF RAGUSA PROSPERITY • HISTORICAL LITERATURE CONTAINS A NUMBER OF KEY “EXPLANATIONS”: location, a business-trading orientation of nobility and citizens, fair provision of social infrastructure for all, limited defense exp. substituted by diplomacy. • DATA SET: SCOUR HIST.LITERATURE FOR STATS, CHARTS, LINK TOGETHER – only some of above hyp. can be tested

  7. 2. POLITICAL-HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF MAIN PERIODS • BYZANTINE : 7TH c. to 1204 • VENETIAN : 1204 to 1358 • HUNGARIAN : 1358- 1526 • OTTOMAN : 1526 -1684 • AUSTRIAN : 1684-1806 • FRENCH OCCUPATION : 1806-1815 • AUSTRIAN : 1815-1918 • YUGOSLAV :1918-1992 • CROATIAN : 1992- present

  8. LIBERTAS OR SUZERAINTY? • FORMALLY , REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA WAS ALWAYS UNDER SUZERAINTY OF ONE LARGE POWER OR ANOTHER, BUT IN PRACTICE HIGHLY AUTONOMOUS, de facto FREE TO GOVERN ITSELF, UNDERTAKE TRADE AND TREATIES WITH ALL STATES. • HOW DID IT DO THIS ? SAME FACTORS AS EXPLAIN ECONOMIC PROSPERITY AT LEAST UNTIL ABOUT 1700 • BUT AFTER FRENCH OCCUPATION EVEN de facto INDEPENDENCE GONE

  9. ECONOMIC PERIODS FOR ECON. ANALYSIS WE PROPOSE DIFERENT PHASES , BASED ON DIFFERENT DETERMINANT FACTORS: • FOUNDATIONAL PERIOD (-- to 1100) • THE SILVER PERIOD (1100-1350) • THE “GOLDEN YEARS” ( 1350-1550?75) [[ consensus of historians: this was the height of maritime prosperity; “golden” does not refer to metal-unlike “silver” before]] • CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND DECLINE(1575-1750) • BRIEF REVIVAL PERIOD (1750-1806) • POST-REPUBLIC PERIOD ( 1806-present)

  10. FOUNDATIONAL PERIODRAGUSA IN 12th. c

  11. SILVER , Croatian“SREBRO” Latin “Argentum” WHENCE… HOTEL GRAND VILLA ARGENTINA ! SILVER PERIOD REMINDERS…

  12. FIRST CLIOMETRIC TESTS: economic dynamism by period • DATA ON NUMBER OF KEY URBAN BUILDINGS BY PERIOD MAY REFLECT GROWTH AND WEALTH OF RAGUSA ( Tab. 1) • SHARE AND INTENSITY OF BUILDINGS-cols.3,4- CONSISTENT WITH CONSENSUS THAT “GOLDEN YEARS” WERE MOST PROSPEROUS. • HOWEVER, THE HYP. IMPLICIT IN WORKS OF STUARD , THAT SILVER PERIOD VERY DYNAMIC AND PRECURSOR OF THE PEAK WEALTH LATER , IS ALSO CONFIRMED

  13. TABLE 1. A MILLENIUM OF MAJOR BUILDINGS… by economic period

  14. 3 QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS Indeed, Golden Years… y.1425 after expanding the territory to Konavle y.1500 saw a record in population

  15. In its most prosperous years, Ragusa was lagging only behind Venice

  16. The end of the Golden Period Revival interlude Sharp growth of the fleet size in the Golden Years

  17. In 1575 the shipping tonnage reaches its peak- coincides with the END of the Golden Period

  18. At the peak years, size and capacity of the fleet equaled Venice or even UK, the latter picking up strongly immediately afterwards • After 1600, Western European forces become unbeatable competitors: Italian markets get smaller compared to the economic prosperity of Western markets, and new sea route around the Cape was more lucrative

  19. However, a decline in GDP already as of y.1500 Tonnage as a proxy for economic activity

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