Ragusan trade diaspora and the commerce of grain in sixteenth century: A network-institutional approach

Abstract

During the sixteenth century, small diasporic communities of businessmen of Ragusa Republic settled in some Mediterranean ports. These communities were made up of commercial agents, merchants and seamen who, using the detailed information system of the motherland and relying on the Republic’s fleet, were engaged in the trade of grain. This study expands previous analysis of Mediterranean Ragusan trade considering it as a trade network diaspora and investigating it in this perspective. In particular, using a network-institutional approach, the role of the Ragusan diaspora in grain trade has been analysed as an instrument of diffusion of the merchant practices in commerce, shipping and finance which have thus become as a cultural heritage of the Ragusa society. The environmental and social pressures conditioned the activity of the merchants and shaped its role as mediators of social capital in support of the economic activity of the motherland.