Livorno and the British: Maritime Networks and Coral Trade from the Mediterranean to East Asia

• In Event: The Medici and the Seas II: Maritime Trajectories

Abstract

Since the late 16th century, Livorno played a strategic role in the commercial expansion of the British merchants. Encouraged by Grand Ducal policy, aiming at fostering an international maritime port of call in Tuscany, British merchants regularly attended Livorno, and sold their products in exchange for local goods and commodities. According to extant sources, purchased goods included boxes of coral, polished or unpolished, white or red coral trees, “esteemed a most precious jewels.”
In the framework of the British trading activity in Livorno, this paper traces the growth and the overall trend of traffics in coral, and sheds light on the maritime networks and routes for this product, linking the Mediterranean to India, China and Japan on a global scale. The activity of some leading merchants and firms, involved in the coral business, allow to itemizing quantities of cargoes and types of coral goods for East Asian markets.

Author

• Tiziana Iannello, eCampus University