Sur la route des pêcheurs malouins : témoins céramiques des échanges entre la Méditerranée et l’Atlantique aux xviie et xviiie siècles

• Published in: Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l'Ouest
• Main Authors: Dieulefet, Gaëlle, Loewen, Brad
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2019
• Subjects: archeo; hist; Canada; Malo; Newfoundland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/abpo/4592

Archaeological collections in Canada from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contain North-Mediterranean ceramics, leading us to examine the relation between these materials and the routes of maritime exchange. From the Canadian observatory, we retrace the route of Mediterranean ceramics to analyse the connections between the western Mediterranean and the North Atlantic. This paper considers two possible diffusion routes. The first is via the interior waterway of the Canal du Midi and the Garonne, linking Sète and Bordeaux, and the second emanates from Marseilles and passes through the Strait of Gibraltar. Of the major maritime trades, the seasonal cod fishery forms a link between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The transatlantic route branches off to Marseille, the principal Mediterranean destination for dried cod. In this vast triangular network, sailors from Saint-Malo were most likely to clear the Strait of Gibraltar and thus prefer a maritime route over the interior waterway. After an examination of the commercial and navigational conditions along the Canal du Midi and the Garonne, we follow the peregrinations of Malouin sailors between the Atlantic ports, the Newfoundland havens and the Phocean city. Through the identification and dating of North Mediterranean ceramics found in Canada, this material culture sheds light on a discrete but persistent maritime network of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ayant observé que les collections archéologiques canadiennes des xviie et xviiie siècles contenaient des céramiques nord-méditerranéennes, nous remontons la piste des céramiques nord-méditerranéennes pour étudier les anciennes routes maritimes existant entre la Méditerranée occidentale et l’Atlantique nord. Deux voies possibles de diffusion ont été considérées : d’une part, les eaux intérieures reliant Sète à Bordeaux via le canal du Midi et la Garonne, et d’autre part, la route maritime partant du port de Marseille et empruntant le détroit de Gibraltar. Parmi les grands échanges ...