History of Commerce

New work over the last thirty years on the archaeology of Syria-Palestine in the later sixth and seventh centuries has significantly questioned the once-accepted view of an economy in decline, seen in part as a contributory factor to the supposed “easy” conquest of the region. Coinage, ceramics, and settlement profiles depict, rather, an economic resilience that successfully weathered the political and military disruptions of the seventh century. The relative soundness of the economy at the end of the seventh century gave crucial support to ʿAbd al-Malik during the succession dispute with Ibn Zubayr, and following its resolution ʿAbd al-Malik’s reforms were to ensure decades of continuing economic prosperity in Syria-Palestine. In the eighth century, a standardized coinage ensured monetary confidence, townbased industries were built up on a major scale to supply regional markets, while improvements to the infrastructure of agriculture—rather than the introduction of new crops—and the exploration of natural resources promoted settlement in the countryside. Over two centuries, the economy had changed, bringing significant shifts in urban and rural settlement patterns, but had not, to any significant extent, failed.

In New Spain, cocoa was a staple food whose high demand at the beginning of the 17th century meant that cocoa beans were imported from Guatemala, Venezuela, and Guayaquil. The viceroyalty of New Spain became the largest world buyer of cocoa because it paid for the product with silver, which was the principal means of exchange at the time. The cocoa trade was monopolized by a small, powerful group of the Consulado (merchants’ guild) of Mexico City who contracted it, redistributed it to the rest of the viceroyalty, and shipped it to Spain. However, the Spanish Crown’s prohibitionist trade policy hindered the expansion of the cocoa trade to meet the demand in New Spain. As Spain intermittently suspended sailing between the viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru, the supply of Guayaquil cocoa was limited to shippers who could obtain special licenses and those who smuggled it. When the monarchy required extraordinary funds to finance its wars in Europe, it granted permits to move Ecuadorian cocoa through the Pacific routes. However, it preferred the supply of cocoa from Caracas for geostrategic reasons, a factor that was used by Caracas shippers to raise prices.
Mexican merchants preferred to import Ecuadorian cocoa because of its higher profitability. Trade in cocoa from this source was based on a confluence of complex kinship, community, and friendship networks. Finally, in 1789, the Guayaquil cocoa trade was authorized without restrictions, which significantly reduced the demand for Caracas cocoa. In addition, cocoa from Tabasco, Guatemala, and Maracaibo was traded in New Spain. The relationship between the Crown and the commercial elite of Mexico was characterized by a policy of continual ongoing negotiations. The cocoa trade was privileged in exchange for merchants’ contributions over and above regular fiscal payments.

En los últimos años, las ciencias sociales han utilizado la noción de consumo como un instrumento esencial para explicar la manera en que el comportamiento de los agentes económicos interviene de forma decisiva en el crecimiento. Los historiadores en particular han comprobado que la aspiración a un mejora cualitativa en el consumo introduce cambios en las actitudes y pautas culturales de amplios sectores de la población desde la Baja Edad Media. Estas transformaciones están en la base del desarrollo del comercio y de la expansión del crédito. Los siglos XIV y XV son, sin duda,
un periodo de enormes dificultades y conflictos sociales, pero en su transcurso tiene lugar un aumento de los niveles de vida de la población gracias a estos procesos económicos. Observar esta evolución en el escenario de Aragón, una de las regiones más beneficiadas por esta dinámica en el marco europeo, ofrece posibilidades de interpretación novedosas que constituyen la contribución de un colectivo de medievalistas que ha dedicado a estos problemas la última década de su investigación a través del Grupo CEMA.

The Suminokura family is one of the main Japanese trading families who benefitted from the shuinsen system, sailing to Southeast Asia with the red seal of the shogun and contributing to the opening of early modern Japan to international commerce. They almost exclusively traded with one country, Đàng Ngoài (Tonkin) and more specifically with the Nghệ An province.They left a very rich corpus of documents,  which  depicts their activities there and the regulation of foreign trade by local  authorities. From  these  sources,  a network model can be built, which highlights the close proximity between the Suminokura and local authorities, the omnipresence of bureaucracy and the importance of family relations. Therefore,  the  Suminokura  corpus  represents  a  unique  source  of  information  about  how Japanese  trade  took place in early modern Southeast Asia,  how well integrated  the  Japanese were and opens further questions about the role played by institutions, guarantees and trustin the organisation of early modern Japanese trading networks.

This article presents an overview of the long term trends in the trading patterns for salted herring in the area of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea and their hinterlands in the period of c. 1600-1850. The market is defined as ‘the interaction between supply and demand to determine the market price and corresponding quantity bought and sold.’  In this period the north European herring market underwent several changes. This is analysed from four different points of view:
The first main section examines the main trading routes for herring in Northern Europe by use of records from the Sound toll registers as well as from accounts of herring imports in the German North Sea and Baltic cities. Then a number of price series for various parts of northern Europe give indications for the long term development of prices of herring. Following this an analysis of the consumption patterns of salted herring is carried out, and finally the influence of mercantilist policies is evaluated.

In comparison with many absolutist monarchies, the early modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth escaped processes of centralization and unification of the judicial system. Every social estate and ethno-confessional community in the country was allowed its own body of law and court system. The multi-confessional and multi-ethnic environment of Polish cities and, therefore, the great variety of jurisdictions have stimulated legal pluralism.

Desde 2006, los investigadores del Grupo CEMA hemos intentado plantear colectivamente y de manera sistemática la vasta cuestión de la comercialización de la sociedad aragonesa medieval, utilizando las categorías propuestas por una historiografía europea que ha experimentado un considerable auge en los últimos años. Durante los dos siglos finales de la Edad Media, Aragón experimenta amplias transformaciones que cambian su estructura económica para adaptarla a las condiciones de un mundo mediterráneo en expansión. En medio de crisis demográficas y difíciles condiciones políticas, la sociedad aragonesa extiende la incidencia de los mercados, el reino se comporta como una gran plataforma logística para el resto de la Península Ibérica, avanza en el desarrollo institucional que mejora las condiciones de funcionamiento de la economía y favorece el acceso de la población a bienes de consumo de una forma nunca antes lograda. Este libro se propone examinar detalladamente estos aspectos, como resultado de un Proyecto de Investigación desarrollado entre los años 2009 y 2012, titulado Mercados y desarrollo en Aragón (1250-1500): vínculos mediterráneos, distribución, abastecimiento urbano y costes de transacción en una economía bajomedieval.

''India, Modernity and the Great Divergence is an original and pioneering book about India’s transition towards modernity and the rise of the West. The work examines global entanglements alongside the internal dynamics of 17th to 19th century Mysore and Gujarat in comparison to other regions of Afro-Eurasia. It is an interdisciplinary survey that enriches our historical understanding of South Asia, ranging across the fascinating and intertwined worlds of modernizing rulers, wealthy merchants, curious scholars, utopian poets, industrious peasants and skilled artisans. Bringing together socio-economic and political structures, warfare, techno-scientific innovations, knowledge production and transfer of ideas, this book forces us to rethink the reasons behind the emergence of the modern world.''

Die durch den Kalten Krieg erlangte Salonfähigkeit der spanischen Diktatur wurde auch im Ausland immer stärker hinterfragt. Auch in der Schweiz, die im Laufe des Kalten Krieges ihre Beziehungen zu einem nicht mehr so umstrittenen Land konsolidiert hatte, begannen sich regimekritische Gruppen zu kristallisieren. Linke Kreise gründeten bereits 1961 das „Schweizerische Komitee für politische Amnestie in Spanien“. Ab 1968 gesellten sich Elemente der Neuen Linken dem antifranquistischen Protest hinzu. Selbst in der Berichterstattung im Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen lässt sich ein Engagement gegen die Repression in Spanien feststellen. Die Beurteilung des Regimes war indes keineswegs einstimmig. Bürgerliche und rechtskonservative Blätter machten keinen Hehl aus ihrer Bewunderung für General Franco. Sein Tod im November 1975 und Juan Carlos‘ Inthronisation stellen eine Zäsur dar, die eine Phase der Hoffnung auf eine untraumatische Demokratisierung und Europäisierung des Landes einleitet.

La antigua ciudad de Carthago Nova se convertiría en una de las ciudades más grandes y pobladas de la Hispania romana, cuya importancia se puede explicar, además de otros muchos factores, por su situación geográfica, recursos naturales y fabuloso puerto, que permitió la manufactura especializada y comercialización a gran escala de uno de los manjares más exquisitos que se producían en la antigüedad y cuyo rastro es posible seguir desde las fuentes clásicas y la arqueología, hasta la cocina actual. Este singular producto se exportó a todo el Mare Nostrum gracias a unos sistemas de conserva, envasado y transporte óptimos que, priorizando el comercio marítimo, permitió a la antigua ciudad púnica, maximizar los beneficios económicos y alcanzar un notable prestigio en todo el Imperio Romano.

La famille Truyart apparaît à Senlis dès 1399, ses membres sont bouchers dans le quartier Saint Aignan. Ils sont élus échevins dès 1448 et franchiront ensuite une à une les étapes de l'ascension sociale. D'abord marchands-bourgeois, l'un d'entre eux sera recteur de l'Université de Paris à l'époque des Guerres de Religion (les Truyart soutiennent la Ligue). Ils achèteront ensuite des charges de plus en plus prestigieuses dans les domaines de la justice et du fisc tout en restant très impliqués dans la vie municipale. Anoblis, pourvus d'hôtels particuliers et de châteaux, d'armoiries et de particules, certains choisiront de servir la famille royale à Paris ou Versailles. La disparition du patronyme peu après la Révolution tient à l'absence d'héritiers mâles plutôt qu'à un déclassement.

Coins and commerce in Northern Gaul
(2nd century BC - 5th century AD)

What is known about the monetary circulation and trade in Northern Gaul, from the period of Gallic Independence until the disappearance of the Roman Empire of the West? It appears that the use of coinage during trade, in commercial transactions, was a secondary function. Whether they were Gallic nobles or Roman emperors, usurpers or officials, the issuing
powers, that is to say the authorities who decided to strike and distribute currencies, were not
interested in trade and markets. They minted coinage only to pay their expenses. And these expenses
were always military first and foremost.The Gallic aristocrats sought to extend their power, and for this purpose they surrounded themselves with a numerous clientele of warriors and maintained alliances. It was for this purpose that they struck their heavy gold coins. The Roman emperors first struck money to pay for the legionaries, to build and maintain roads, harbours and fleets, enabling the legions to move rapidly from one border of the Empire to the other. But it was necessary that the recipients of the currencies could exchange it for the goods necessary for life: food, drinks, clothes, housing, heating... The circulation of coins could only lead to the monetisation of trade and, in the medium term, the establishment of structures allowing
such monetised exchanges, such as markets, and a division of labour between farmers, artisans and
merchants.

(MODERN AMBIVALENCES: WAR, COMMERCE, AND PIRACY IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PHILIPPINES AND THE NEIGHBORING SULTANATES AT THE END OF THE 18th CENTURY) // Eberhard Crailsheim, “Ambivalencias modernas. Guerra, comercio y ‘piratería’ en las relaciones entre Filipinas y los sultanatos colindantes a finales del siglo XVIII,” in: María Dolores Elizalde and Xavier Huetz de Lemps (eds.), Anhelos de cambio. Reformas y modernisación en las Filipinas del siglo XIX (Madrid, Polifemo, 2021) (ISBN: 9788416335756), pp. 513–542.

Das Leben der Kaufleute in der Frühen Neuzeit war von Migration und Fremdheit bestimmt: Portugiesische und niederländische Kaufleute zogen nach Hamburg, hamburgische und niederländische Kaufleute nach Portugal. Die Studie untersucht wirtschaftliche, politische und rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen und vergleicht die geografische und soziale Mobilität sowie Umsätze, Vermögen und Warenspezialisierungen der Kaufleute. Sie beleuchtet ihre Integration in verschiedene Organisationen und die Bedeutung von Familie und religiöser Gemeinschaft für ihren Handel. Die Autorin liefert damit neue Erkenntnisse zur Geschichte von Migration und interkultureller Begegnung in der frühmodernen Globalisierung.

The book attempts to present –for the first time in the international bibliography– a detailed description of the historical life of Abydos (Άβυδος) of Hellespont (Ελλήσποντος, Δαρδανέλλια); the latter was an important ancient and medieval Greek city, situated on the Asiatic shore of Dardanelles, at the once narrowest part of the local Straits (usually named "Stenon of Abydos") and in the surrounding area of the promontory of Nara (an Ottoman and modern Turkish naval base, where free access is prohibited). The monograph also detects the  relations between Abydos and other known settlements in the wider region of northwestern Asia Minor (Troad, Hellespont, Mysia, Hellespontine Phrygia).

Αbydos was founded predominantly as a colony of Miletus (ca. 680-650 BC) and had a continuous historical life that lasted about 2.000 years (mid. 7th c. BC - early 14th c. AD). The prosperous ancient city minted various coins between 6th c. BC - 3rd c. AD. Its lively port was used for centuries as a key point for the passage from Europe to Asia and the cruise from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (and vice versa) as well as a major customs station ("telonion Abydou" during the Roman imperial years, "demosion teloneion" or "kommerkion" or "dekateuterion Abydou" during the medieval period of the city). Byzantine Abydos was also an important administrative center, a military and naval base and an ecclesiastical seat (bishopric and later metropolis).

However, the long and turbulent history of Abydos and its region is virtually unknown in modern years, despite the fact that the city's reputation was particularly widespread during ancient and medieval times in the Mediterranean world. Moreover, for many reasons noted in the book, the settlement does not exist archaeologically in the last two centuries. In short, Abydos constitutes a very interesting case of a virtually lost city during the modern times.

For various reasons, also described in the book, the importance of Abydos had declined during the 13th c. AD and the city was finally abandoned by its population in the early 14th c. AD., mainly because of the Turkish threat in the area. From mid. 15th c. AD the new city of Çanakkale was established gradually (initially named as Kale-i Sultaniye) 5-6 km to the south of Abydos. The ruins of the abandoned urban area of ​​the latter have been systematically pillaged -mainly for construction and other purposes- between the 14th - early 19th c. AD.

For the reconstruction of  the long historical life of Abydos (mid. 7th c. BC - early 14th c. AD) and an in-depth analysis of its numerous and largely unknown institutions, the study relies though on the information providing by the written (ancient and medieval) texts but also on the scarce and dispersed epigraphic and the much richer numismatic (the city minted coins between 6th c. BC - 3rd c. AD) and sigillographic data and other archaeological findings regarding (or deriving from) the city. It also takes into account all the contemporary related publications.

[VANIAS publications,  Thessaloniki 2017,  752 pages,  ISBN: 978-960-288-342-6,  text in Greek language with an English summary]

Riassunto: dei signacula ex aere con l'oggetto marcato. Per illustrare la grande varietà esistente di forme, rendere evidente la frequenza di alcuni tipi rispetto ad altri, si propone uno schema tipologico delle lamine dei signacula bronzei.

ÖZET: Bizans ve Sâsânî İmparatorlukları arasında akdedilen barış antlaşmalarındaki iktisâdî hükümlerin değerlendirilmesi, bu savaşların arkasında yatan, ticâret yollarının kontrolünden kaynaklı iktisâdî sebeplerin de anlaşılmasını sağlayacak mahiyettedir. 562 yılında akdedilen Dara Antlaşmasının tam metni günümüze ulaştığından, antlaşma metni temelinde inceleme yapılabilmesi mümkündür. Antlaşmanın başlıca iktisadî hükümleri, devletlerarası ticaretin sadece belirli şehirlerle sınırlandırılması, elçilere ve diplomatik heyetlere verilen ticâret izni, her iki devletin tabiyetindeki Arap tüccarların ve tüm diğer tüccarların da Nisibis ve Dara üzerinden mutabık olunan ticari yolları takip etmeleri ve yeni ticari yollar denememeleridir. Bu hükümler, eski antlaşmalar ve yasal düzenlemeler temelinde tetkik edileceği gibi, Iustinianus döneminde yeni ticâret yolları tesis etme çabası, Bizans İmparatorluğunda ipekli dokuma sektörünün teşekkülü gibi girişimler, Sâsânîlerin İpek Yolu’nun ana ticârî güzergâhlarını kontrolünde tutmasının yarattığı sorunlar göz önüne alınarak tarihsel bağlamda değerlendirilecektir. Bu çalışmada, ticari ilişkilerin eski durumuna geri döndürülerek restore edilmesi çabasının Bizans-Sâsânî savaşlarının bir bir boyutunu teşkil etme ihtimali de tartışılacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Bizans-Sâsânî Savaşları, Bizans-Sâsânî İktisâdî ve Ticârî İlişkileri.

ABSTRACT: An evaluation of the economic clauses of the peace treaties that were concluded between Byzantine and Sāssānid Empires, can make us understand the underlying economic factors that was based on controlling the trade routes. Since we have the full text of the treaty of Dara that was concluded between the Byzantine and Sāssānid Empires in 562 AD, it is possible to make a research based on this text. The main economic clauses in the treaty contains the limitation of the interstate commerce by certain cities, the permission to trade of the ambassadors and the diplomatic envoys, and the constraint of the Arabian merchants and all other merchants that are subjects of either state for trying new trade routes and their enforcement to follow the agreed trade routes by Nisibis and Dara. These clauses will be examined on the basis of older treaties and legal regulations,  on the historical context of the effort to establish new trade routes and the attemp to establish the silk weaving industry in Justinian’s times and regarding the problems caused by the Persians' controlling of the main trade routes of the Silk Road. In this work, the possibility of the restoration effort of the commercial relations to its previous state as one of the aspects of the Byzantine-Sāssānid wars, will also be discussed.

Keywords: Byzantine-Sasanian Wars, Byzantine-Sasanian Economic and Commercial Relations.

ABSZTRAKT: A Bizánci és a Sāssānid Birodalom között megkötött békeszerződések gazdasági záradékainak értékelése segíthet megérteni a mögöttes gazdasági tényezőket, amelyek a kereskedelmi útvonalak ellenőrzésén alapultak. Mivel rendelkezésünkre áll a Bizánci és a Sāssānid Birodalom között Kr. u. 562-ben kötött dárai szerződés teljes szövege, lehetőség van arra, hogy a szöveg alapján kutatást végezzünk. A szerződés főbb gazdasági záradékai tartalmazzák az államközi kereskedelem korlátozását bizonyos városok által, a követek és diplomáciai követek kereskedelmének engedélyezését, valamint az arab kereskedők és minden más, bármelyik állam alattvalójának számító kereskedő korlátozását új kereskedelmi útvonalak kipróbálására, és a Nisibis és Dara által megállapított kereskedelmi útvonalak követésére való kényszerítését. Ezeket a záradékokat a régebbi szerződések és jogi szabályozások alapján, az új kereskedelmi útvonalak létrehozására irányuló törekvések és a selyemszövőipar létrehozására tett kísérletek történelmi kontextusában vizsgáljuk meg Jusztiniánusz idejében, valamint a Selyemút fő kereskedelmi útvonalainak perzsák általi ellenőrzése által okozott problémák tekintetében. Ebben a munkában a kereskedelmi kapcsolatok korábbi állapotának helyreállítására irányuló erőfeszítések lehetőségét, mint a bizánci-sāssānid háborúk egyik szempontját is tárgyaljuk.

Kulcsszavak: Bizánci-szaszanida háborúk, bizánci-szaszanida gazdasági és kereskedelmi kapcsolatok.

АБСТРАКТ: Оценка экономических положений мирных договоров, заключенных между Византийской и Сасанидской империями, может помочь нам понять экономические факторы, которые лежали в основе контроля над торговыми путями. Поскольку у нас есть полный текст Дарийского договора, заключенного между Византийской и Сасанидской империями в 562 году н. э., можно провести исследование на основе этого текста. Основные экономические пункты договора содержат ограничение межгосударственной торговли определенными городами, разрешение на торговлю послам и дипломатическим посланникам, а также ограничение арабских купцов и всех других купцов, подданных обоих государств, на новые торговые пути и их принуждение следовать согласованным торговым маршрутам Нисибиса и Дары. Эти положения будут рассмотрены на основе более древних договоров и правовых норм, в историческом контексте попыток установления новых торговых путей и создания шелкоткацкой промышленности во времена Юстиниана, а также в связи с проблемами, вызванными контролем персов над основными торговыми путями Шелкового пути. В этой работе также будет обсуждаться возможность восстановления торговых отношений до прежнего состояния как один из аспектов византийско-сасанидских войн.

Ключевые слова: Византийско-сасанидские войны, византийско-сасанидские экономические и торговые отношения.

Pratique en plein essor depuis la seconde moitie du XVIIIe siecle, le recours aux commis voyageurs par les negociants champenois est un facteur essentiel du developpement commercial du champagne. Rigoureusement selectionnes, en fonction de besoins, preferences et contraintes inegalement affirmes, ces commis voyageurs doivent faire preuve de savoirs et de savoir-etre. Embauches le plus souvent a la mission, ils exercent un role triple en etant a la fois agents d’information, agents de recouvrement et prospecteurs de marche. Enfin, certains se distinguent par des responsabilites grandissantes au sein des maisons.

The history of the relations between Friuli and Istria in the early modern age can be divided into two periods: in the first period both regions were subjected to the patriarchate of Aquileia, but there was a growth of Venetian influence on the Istrian coast (13th – 14th centuries); in the second period, starting with the year 1420, both regions belonged to the Republic of Venice.
Neither the patriarchate nor the Republic of Venice committed themselves to encourage the traffic between the two areas in a coherent way. However, trade between Friuli and Istria developed in the 14th century thanks to the activity of some Tuscan merchants, and it was preserved during the 15th-18th centuries because of the common interest of the two provinces to exchange some basic products, especially Istrian oil and Friulian wheat. Also the migration of Friulian merchants and artisans to Istria was conspicuous, as well as the circulation of members of the clergy, school teachers, artists and musicians.
The ideas of the Reformation were circulated between the two regions, mainly by the Bishop of Capodistria Pier Paolo Vergerio; and in both regions the same agrarian myths (i.e. the belief in the benandanti or kresniki) manifested themselves among the people.

In the minds of many people national identity and masculinity are intimately connected. Yet, this connection has hardly been a subject of analysis in Dutch history. That is because, different from femininity, masculinity has such a quality of naturalness and self-evidence that it is not consciously noticed. Nevertheless, in each culture ideas about what is masculine and what is not, serve as a founding axis of meanings. As such masculinity has shaped the image and self-image of the Dutch as a nation. We only have to think of the evidently male models which keep popping up as icons of national identity in Dutch media again and again: the merchant (sometimes seconded by the seaman) and the minister.

The insight that not only femininity but also masculinity is often used symbolically to create differences with other people and define, for instance, professional groups or nations, is common to historians of gender. However, this specific gender perspective is practically absent from the current research into Dutch identity by other historians, imagologists and social scientists. That is a shortfall because in whatever way one chooses to see Dutch identity –as well-defined and essential, as variable and constructed, or as something in-between– this is a fundamental dimension. It is also a fascinating dimension because different models of masculinity seem to be competing with each other in the dynamic and contested heritage that we call Dutch identity.

This dynamic between softer and harder styles of masculinity is the leitmotiv of this book. The chapters discuss the bravery of the merchant that was found to be lacking in the eyes of outsiders, the masculinity of the Dutch she-merchant who was wearing the breeches at home, the militant masculinity of colonial merchants overseas which contrasted sharply with the accommodating masculinity of the merchants at home. The last chapter analyses in detail how –despite the classical and Christian traditions to judge commerce negatively– a positive identification and broad social appreciation was brought about for the merchant as icon of Dutchness in the 17th and 18th centuries.

It can hardly be called a new idea that the period of the Dutch Republic has shaped Dutch commercial identity. What is new, however, is the argument that masculinity has been a symbolic ánd decisive factor in the historic appreciation for both commercial capitalism and the Dutch as a nation of merchants. To argue this point, this book not only analyses several early modern styles of masculinity with their particular honour codes but also uncovers the cultural traditions which delivered the models and words that made it possible to speak of masculinity at the time.

In order to explain the moments and ways in which masculinity served as a symbolical instrument in favour or to the detriment of Dutch commercial identity, historical developments such as rising capitalism, colonialism, urbanisation, war and migration are taken into consideration. Furthermore, the social and political mechanisms that shaped this process of identification ideologically for both insiders and outsiders, are analysed.

In these times of reviving political machismo, the ongoing appeal to ‘the’ Dutch identity, a growing awareness of the colonial past, and climbing criticism on the dominance of the market in politics and culture, The Merchant's Balls offers an innovative and refreshing approach to present discussions in Dutch society.

En el primer tercio del siglo XX surgió una tipología de azulejo ligada al desarrollo industrial  y  comercial  en  España,  el  azulejo  publicitario,  que  pronto  se  convirtió  en  referente  de  identidad  urbana.  Los  ejemplos  conservados  en  Extremadura  aparecen asociados a fábricas y establecimientos comerciales y representan las dos principales vertientes de esta tipología cerámica: una sencilla con el nombre de la empresa y otra que reproduce el cartelismo comercial coetáneo. La valoración de este frágil patrimonio cultural es fundamental para su conservación, puesto que, por su ubicación en las fachadas de los inmuebles, se encuentra expuesto al vandalismo, el expolio y las inclemencias del tiempo.

This is the full text and map book (image document separate from and attached to the end of the text) of my undergraduate Bachelor's thesis completed and defended in May 2010. I received high honors and the Alumni Award in the History of Art for this project.

I distinguished four main chronologically overlapping stages in carpet mobility dynamics. At the first stage, a growing number of rugs were imported to Poland-Lithuania from the markets of Istanbul and Edirne. Its golden age lasted from the 1560s to the 1650s. The scale of the carpet import was so significant that the Diet (Sejm) included Persian and Ottoman carpets in the "Regulation of sale prices" (1620, 1633).
At the second stage, the fashionable types of carpets were commissioned to merchants who visited particular places in Asia Minor to buy carpets directly from the producers. At this stage, the consumers’ demand influenced production – some sorts of carpets, some motifs and colors were in higher demand in Poland-Lithuania than others were. Therefore, producers tried to meet the tastes of the growing Polish market. On the other hand, Ottoman authorities found it necessary to regulate the carpet trade with the infidels (1610). Consequently, many prayer rugs produced for export were woven without recognizable Islamic symbols – lamp, Kaaba and Islamic calligraphy. In this way, the carpet producers met both the market demand and the state religious regulations.
At the third stage, the consumers – kings, noblemen, and bishops – commissioned carpets bearing their coat-of-arms. The upper classes looked for something more exclusive and personalized in order to demonstrate their superior status through exclusive access to luxury. Nothing of this kind ever happened in Russia, nor in the very countries where carpets were woven – the Ottoman Empire and Persia. The spread of vogue for carpets bearing a coat-of-arms reflects a particular political model in Poland-Lithuania and the “golden liberties” the nobility enjoyed there. At this stage, the merchants had established direct contacts with carpet workshops in the Ottoman Empire as well as in Persia.
Finally, carpets were produced in the manufactories established by some dignitaries in their domains in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some artisans were invited from the Middle East to initiate and manage the production process.
Therefore, the vogue for oriental carpets led to the mobility not only of goods, but also of ideas, techniques, and artisans. Moreover, this mobility was not unilateral but bilateral, since Polish consumer taste helped to introduce new elements into oriental carpet weaving.

Osmanlı İstanbulu’nda ikinci el eşya ticareti ve onun mekânı olan bitpazarları üzerine yapılmış araştırma sayısı sınırlıdır. Oysa ki Osmanlı toplumunda ikinci el eşya ticareti son derece yoğundu. İkinci el eşya arzını kaçak ya da buluntu mallar ile büyük oranda insanların vefatından sonra arkada bıraktıkları malların yeniden mübadeleye girmesi oluşturmaktaydı. Bu tezdeki ana amaç, ikinci el eşya ticareti organizasyonu için teşkilatlanmış olan bitpazarının kurumsal ve mekânsal yapısını, işleyiş şeklini ve müşteri-esnaf tipolojilerini açığa çıkartarak bitpazarının tarihsel seyrini ele almaktır. Günümüzde artık var olmayan İstanbul Bitpazarı’nın Osmanlı dönemindeki konumu mekânsal anlamda ele alınarak analiz edilmiştir. Bununla birlikte giyim başta olmak üzere her tür ikinci el eşya pazara gelebilmekteydi. Bu emtia çeşitliliği sadece bitpazarı esnafının değil diğer birçok esnaf grubunun da ilgisini çekmiştir. Dolayısıyla bitpazarı esnafının organizasyon yapısı ve diğer esnaf gruplarıyla ilişkileri de ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Son olarak Osmanlı’da ikinci el eşya tüketim kültürünün değişimi 19. yüzyılda dönüşen sosyal ve iktisadi dinamikler üzerinden irdelenmiştir.