The Unmaking of the Mediterranean Trade Hegemony: International Trade Rivalry and the Commercial Revolution

• Published in: The Journal of Economic History
• Main Author: Rapp, Richard T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1975
• Subjects: Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous); Economics and Econometrics; History; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022050700075616; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022050700075616

The shift in the locus of European trade from the markets of the Mediterranean to the North Atlantic overthrew a centuries old pattern of commerce and established the basis for the predominant role of North Atlantic Europe in the era of industrialization. While the expression “commercial revolution” no longer has quite the currency that it once enjoyed, students of the early modern economy have not been negligent about trying to understand the causes of the commercial shift. The impact of entrepreneurship and Weltanschauung , capital accumulation, technical innovation in shipping and industry, and the economic and political organization of nation-states have all received attention from students of the age.