Page 169 - 1

Androzzi (saggi)_6 14/12/18 09:32 Pagina 581

‘Segmented Trade’. Merchants, Mercantile Practices and Mercantilism 581

tobacco to send westwards to replace the Virginia tobacco which was,
30
at that moment, in short supply .
It was precisely the war which revealed the close interlocking
relationships which existed between the ‘segmental routes’ which
Trieste fitted in to and Atlantic trading. The combatants sought to
safeguard their military interests and, at the same time, facilitate trade
as of key importance to their economies. Immediately the neutral flags
of the Hapsburg Empire, Venice, the Kingdom of Naples and Genoa
replaced those of combatant nations «in the trade of the whole
Mediterranean» and, in particular, the wealthy and strategic trade of
the «Turkey Company», the chartered English company which managed
trade with the Ottoman Empire and, in 1781, that managed by the
31
Dutch in Turkey and Egypt . Moreover, the role of the neutral flags
was not limited to the Mediterranean routes but also linked these seas
with the Atlantic circuits, first and foremost those which led to
Europe’s Atlantic ports and the northern seas as well as the Americas.
Thus not only did the Hapsburg flag reach Lisbon and Cadiz - the
gateways to the American continent – but it could also sail directly to
the Spanish, English and Dutch colonies, on the strength of its
allegiance to the League of Armed Neutrality . Alongside the ships,
32
moreover, the rivalry triggered by the search for crew between
commercial, military and pirate ships led to Mediterranean seamen
looking for employment on the more lucrative Atlantic routes . Thus
33
the presence of Mediterranean ship-owners, captains and seafarers on
these routes prompted practice standardisation.
Furthermore, during the American War of Independence more
ambitious attempts were made, on the strength of the neutral flag, to
connect the port of Trieste to the Atlantic world. From 1775 to 1785
Anglo-Dutchman William Bolts founded and directed a chartered
company set up to trade with the East Indies and China. Many factors
bound this company to the Atlantic: the provenance of its founder who

30 Sav, Savi I s., 758, 25 April 1778. In the Eighties the French, Swedish, Spanish,
Danish, Dutch, English and Russian consuls resided in Trieste (Sav, Savi, 755, 19 Feb-
ruary 1780 and 758, 21 April 1787).
31 Sav, Dispacci, Inghilterra, 130, 22 May, 26 June and 25 December 1781. R. Bren-
ner, Merchants and Revolution. Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London’s Over-
seas Traders, 1550-1563, Verso, London-New York, 2003; M. Talbot, British- Ottoman
Relations, 1661-1807: Commerce and Diplomatic Practice in Eighteenth Century Istanbul,
The Boydell Press, Rochester, New York, 2017; D. Andreozzi, Strategie neutrali. Stati,
commerci e neutralità tra Mediterraneo e Oceani nella seconda metà del ‘700, in D. Andre-
ozzi (ed.), Attraverso i conflitti. Neutralità e commercio fra età moderna ed età contempo-
ranea, Eut, Trieste, 2017, pp. 75-96.
32 Sav, Savi, 695, Lisbona, 8 October 1782; Dispacci, Spagna ,181, 30 January 1781.
33 Sav, Dispacci, Londra 131, 14 May 1782.

n.44 Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XV - Dicembre 2018
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)