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Empires Looking Seawards the Benefits and Costs of Foreign Seaborne Trade

Abstract: Throughout the early modern period, the two major empires of the Mediterranean basin struggled not only for the domination of the land but also for the control of the seas around them. Directly and indirectly, they engaged in mercantile and naval seafaring and sought to control, supervise and regulate maritime routes and resources. The naval and military aspects of these imperial initiatives have been subject to substantial research. However, only a few studies have undertaken a specific analysis of the commercial aspects of the maritime interests of these empires. This neglect in the literature has been related to the conventional view—common to both the Spanish and Ottoman historiographies —which suggested that these imperial structures were primarily interested in military expansion rather than in economic gain.  Through a discussion of published research findings, this article seeks to examine the attitudes of the Spanish and Ottoman political elites towards commercial seafaring from a comparative perspective. Taking as case studies the evolution of two major port cities of these empires—Izmir (Smryna) and Seville—with a particular emphasis on the role of different socio-economic groups in these highly cosmopolitan cities it seeks to understand why and how the political elites sought to control and participate in the functioning of seaborne commerce. In this way, it seeks to reveal the motives and the constraints that shaped imperial policies with regard to commercial seafaring.