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Italy 1500–1800: Cooperation and Competition

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Marine Insurance

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance Series ((PSHF))

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Abstract

A new stage in the international development of marine insurance was spurred by the opening of intercontinental trade routes and the gradual shift of the hub of international trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Having appeared as an autonomous legal instrument in the maritime cities of the Tyrrhenian area (Pisa, Genoa, Palermo), insurance by the late middle ages had spread to most of the Mediterranean, both in the direction of Catalonia (Barcelona, Maiorca, Valencia) and of the Christian Levant (Ragusa), as colonies of Italian merchants transmitted the technical and juridical knowledge developed in their cities to local markets.1

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  1. Centre for Financial History, University of Cambridge, UK

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© 2016 Andrea Addobbati

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Addobbati, A. (2016). Italy 1500–1800: Cooperation and Competition. In: Leonard, A.B. (eds) Marine Insurance. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137411389_3

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