Urganch ranch texnologiya Universiteti Iqtisodiyot va ishlab chiqarishni tashkil qilish fakulteti

Trade in the Mediterranean

Trade in the Mediterranean seems to have died down gradually after the fourth century, until in the seventh and eighth centuries there was an abrupt downturn. This was probably associated with the Arab take-over of the Middle East and North Africa, which turned the Mediterranean into a hostile zone for trade. Arab pirates dominated the seas until the 11th century, when the Italian cities of Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi and Venice began aggressively capturing pirate bases and reclaiming the seas for trade. The Crusades completed this process so that by the end of the 12th century Mediterranean trade and travel (even by Muslim pilgrims) was largely in European (mostly Italian) holds.
The north Italian city-states went on to plant trading colonies on the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, including in Syria and Palestine, the Crimea in the Black Sea, and in Sardinia and Corsica. They had their own merchant quarters in the major cities of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Cairo. Venice in particular acquired a maritime empire which included parts of Greece, islands in the Adriatic and the Aegean, the large islands of Crete and Cyprus, and many towns along the Dalmatian coast.

Trade in the North Sea and Baltic

The North Sea had for millennia been home to coastal shipping, on a more local scale than in the Mediterranean. After the shock of the first Viking raids in the 8th and 9th centuries, new trade routes opened up, with tentacles stretching out across Russia and eastern Europe to the Black Sea and Middle East. Ireland, Scotland, northern England and Iceland were drawn more into the trading networks of the region, and northern European ships traded westward along the coasts of Europe, down to and into the Mediterranean.
The North Sea and Baltic ports of northern Europe became flourishing centers of commerce, and from the mid-12th century their commercial power was boosted by the foundation of the Hanseatic League. This was primarily a commercial organization set up to protect and promote the economic interests of the member towns, and, centered on the north German port of Lubeck, it included towns in the Baltic and the North Sea stretching from Russia to England.
In all European waters medieval cargos were carried in stout “round ships”, or “cogs” – deep-drafted, wide-beamed vessels which held the sea well and had deep, capacious holds in which to carry as much cargo as possible. The exception was with the Venetians, who used galleys (fast oared vessels, armed for war) for high values cargos and where speed was an advantage (for example on trade routes between the Mediterranean and northern waters).