Bancaria Editrice - Journal of European Economic History

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Articles

Shaping the Space and Places of Portuguese and Dutch Global Trade: The Carte di Castello of Cosimo III de’ Medici

Angelo Cattaneo

During a visit to the Netherlands between 1667 and 1668, Prince Cosimo III de’ Medici purchased a conspicuous collection of “plans of various ports, cities, fortresses and coasts of both the East and West Indies” from the Dutch India Companies. Two years later, during a second European journey, having arrived in Lisbon, Cosimo purchased copies of large-scale nautical charts of the coasts of Africa, Arabia and Persia and the Indian subcontinent. Through the lenses of Dutch and Iberian maps and landscape painting, these documents, known as Carte di Castello, display the global mercantile world of the mid-17th century. This article considers Prince Cosimo’s interest in long-distance trade and sea routes, within the overlapping frameworks of the Portuguese empire and Dutch trade companies, by following him on his first journey to the Netherlands. In Amsterdam he had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the activities of the Dutch East and West India Companies, experiencing firsthand their wealth and at the same time learning about the places that structured the Dutch global trade networks. One specific context, particularly highlighted by the documentation acquired by Prince Cosimo, will be analyzed: the vast maritime region of the so-called “Spice Islands” in the Maluku Archipelago. This analysis will allow us to highlight two specific, structural aspects of trades developed by the Dutch companies and by the Portuguese, in the framework of the Estado da Índia, with respect to the spatiality of their trade networks: the reticular and insular dimension of global maritime commercial spaces and networks combined with the attempt of construction of Mediterranean maritime spaces, on a global scale. These two interconnected dimensions prove crucial to the economic and political management of long-distance networks during the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

Feudal Institutions and Rural Markets in North-Western Italy (Seventeenth-Eighteenth Centuries)

Luciano Maffi, Andrea Zanini

The role of feudal lords in the development of trade and manufacturing in their fiefdoms is part of the debate on feudalism and its economic policies, as well as on market areas in rural communities in the early modern age. In this article, we want to present how some feudal lords were particularly dynamic and supported economic development. This occurred when certain favourable conditions existed, such as the location of the fiefdom within a wide road network, the availability of commercial products on site or in nearby areas, and the entrepreneurial initiative of the feudal landowners themselves. The case study is significant because it concerns a vast rural area of North-western Italy, characterised by the presence of several fiefdoms, located at the crossroads between the bordering pre-unification regional states: the Republic of Genoa, the Duchies of Savoy, Parma, and Milan. In general, we show that the feudal lord’s intention was not to create the conditions to sell his annuities in kind but to develop markets that could generate other incomes. The success of this initiative stemmed from his ability to catalyse people from other areas. In this way, the lord could increase feudal income with the consequent positive externality of improving economic conditions.

Tourism and Border Identity in Italian South Tyrol (1919-1943)

Paola Nardone, Natascia Ridolfi, Ada Di Nucci

After the annexation of the Alto Adige area to the Kingdom of Italy, a series of economic and touristic projects and agreements between the neighbouring zones of North Tyrol and Alto Adige were signed. The goal of such initiatives within the cross-border zone ended up becoming an opportunity for social renewal for both Italy and Austria. The work herein focuses on the attempts carried out by both nations in their cross-border areas to promote economic exchanges, especially the flow of tourism, in order to increase the well-being of the population involved and social cohesion and cooperation, while pacifying the area.

Notes

IMI, Framework Agreements with Foreign Banks and International Trading. Between State and Market

Filippo Sbrana

1. The European challenge for exports at the beginning of the 1950s
After an initial phase of reconstruction, a new form of competition in foreign trade emerged in Europe in the years following the Second World War. Long payment terms began to be offered by producers to buyers for their goods and services. This didn’t depend on the technical time required to complete supplies, as it was the case before the war, but mainly on the needs of developing countries that intended to make investments in industry or infrastructure without having all the necessary capital.

Problems

EXPLORING A PROMINENT EU ACTOR. HISTORY AND ACTION OF THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK

Reassessing the Role and Identity of the European Investment Bank

Daniela Felisini

The President of the Commission Ursula von Der Leyen’s State of the EU address (14 September 2022) introduced a new, or renewed, role for the Union in the fields of energy and innovation policies. The President spoke not only of diversification of energy supplies, but also of direct support to the development of new sources, such as hydrogen: “Hydrogen can be a game changer for Europe. We need to move our hydrogen economy from niche to scale. With REPowerEU, we have doubled our 2030 target to produce ten million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU, each year.

The Extraordinary Intervention for the Mezzogiorno and the Birth of The European Investment Bank: The Debate in Europe and the Positions Expressed by the Italian Delegation

Renato Raffaele Amoroso

1. Introduction
The definition of intervention policies for the Mezzogiorno has been intertwined, especially since 1957, with the history of European integration and the birth of the first Community’s economic cooperation strategies. The launch of the “second half” of extraordinary interventions occurred a few months after the signing of the Treaties of Rome, which, together with the European Economic Community (EEC) had established the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

The European Investment Bank and Its Role in Fostering European Cohesiveness: The Case of Ireland and of the Italian Southern Regions

Donatella Strangio

1. Background
The European Investment Bank (EIB) was the first IFI (International Financial Institution) created with the purpose of promoting regional economic integration rather than simply alleviating capital constraints and promoting development, as it was the case for previously established IFIs like the World Bank.2 However, it remains a neglected EU institution.

Supporting the Economic Development: The European Investment Bank from the Fifties to the Green Deal

Serena Casu

The economic development of the Member States has been one of the main purposes of the European integration process since its beginning in the Fifties: it was explicitly expressed in the Schuman’s declaration of 9th May 19501, and it was formally reaffirmed in the ECSC Treaty:2 through the pooling of coal and steel production, the common foundations for an economic development finalized at the preservation of peace would be created, building a de facto solidarity among Countries.

Book Reviews

R. Del Prete (ed.)
Knowledge, words and worlds: Italian education between continuity and change (19th century-21st century)
Alberto Tanturri

G. Gregorini, M. Romani (eds.)
Borghesie nazionali, borghesie cosmopolite. Banca privata, finanza, reti (Italia, secoli XVIII-XX)
Enrico Berbenni

E. Rauchway
Why the New Deal Matters
Mario Del Pero

H. Soly
Capital at Work in Antwerp’s Golden Age, Studies in European Urban History
Rogier van Kooten

L. Trapassi
La terra del futuro. Il Brasile dalla crisi alla crescita economica
Carlo Catapano

Journal of European Economic History - 2022 issue 3