Trade and institutions in the medieval Mediterranean
Other Title Information
: the Geniza merchants and their business world
First Statement of Responsibility
/ Jessica L. Goldberg.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
; New York
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
: Cambridge University Press
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
, 2012.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
xxi, 426 p. :
Other Physical Details
ill., maps ;
Dimensions
24 cm.
SERIES
Series Title
Cambridge studies in economic history
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction: two tales; Part I. Institutions: 2. Merchants in their community; 3. The uses of commercial correspondence; 4. The nature of merchants' trade; 5. The human landscape: business relationships, institutions of law and government; 6. Conclusion to Part I; Part II. Geographies: 7. The geography of information; 8. Commodities in a regional market; 9. Individual geographies of trade; 10. The contracting geography of the eleventh-century merchant network; 11. Conclusion: tThe Mediterranean through the eyes of Geniza merchants; Glossary of terms; Bibliography.
8
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"The Geniza merchants of the eleventh-century Mediterranean - sometimes called the 'Maghribi traders' - are central to controversies about the origins of long-term economic growth and the institutional bases of trade. In this book, Jessica Goldberg reconstructs the business world of the Geniza merchants, maps the shifting geographic relationships of the medieval Islamic economy and sheds new light on debates about the institutional framework for later European dominance. Commercial letters, business accounts and courtroom testimony bring to life how these medieval traders used personal gossip and legal mechanisms to manage far-flung agents, switched business strategies to manage political risks and asserted different parts of their fluid identities to gain advantage in the multicultural medieval trading world. This book paints a vivid picture of the everyday life of Jewish merchants in Islamic societies and adds new depth to debates about medieval trading institutions with unique quantitative analyses and innovative approaches"--
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Jewish merchants - Mediterranean Region - History - To 1500.