TRADE IN THE MEDIEVAL

WORLD
 697 – 1797 1200 - 1450 1230–1670
Republic of Venice Hanseatic League Mali Empire

Slaves: Cloth: Salt:

Changed the demographics Emergence of trading Some Cities, countries
of regions forever. unions. and whole Empires were
Served in armies of Lead to trade wars in built around salt.
expanding Empires. Northern Europe. Taxation on salt lead to
riots throughout history.
Resource Curse
When a country has too many resources, and this can lead to instability and lack
of development.

Trading Bloc
A union of states which reduce duties and tariffs. They can also unite to sign
better trade agreements with other nations.

Illicit Trade
Trading an illegal good.
Venice
Crusades
Destruction of the
Byzantine Empire
TRADED GOOD:

Slaves
Slaves
Slaves have been traded since ancient times. The Sumerians, Romans, Chinese, Vikings,
Muslims etc. all had slaves and traded them.

Many were captured during wars, some were sold by their own familes, others were
stolen by pirates and raiders and many were born as slaves. Trading slaves however
became a huge enterprise and slaves were traded all around the world.
Slaves
There were many slave rebellions throughout history, like the Zanj Rebellion in the 9th
Century. This took place in Iraq, where the African slaves (the Zanj) rose up against the
Muslim slave owners to try and gain their freedom. But, they were defeated and hundreds
of thousands were killed.

Africans were brought up North, Russians were brought South, Central Asians were brought
East and generally the demographics of all regions were changed due to the slave trade.

However, as certain groups were often enslaved by others, this lead to a great deal of racism
we can still today. Like with the Black community in the United States. Plus, it is believed that
the word Slav (which describes Russians, Ukrainians and the likes) comes from the word
slave, as they were enslaved by the Muslims in the South.
 The Republic of Venice
Venice is just a small City in Italy, built on a lot
of canals. This meant they were well defended
against an attack, but did not have any
resources.

So, like the Carthaginians and the Athenians,

they focused on gaining Command of the Sea.
They built a huge navy and captured islands
along their trade routes.

They did produce some items, like glass, but to

get Asian products like silk and pepper, they
traded slaves. They would then sell the Asian
products in Europe and became incredibly
wealthy. In fact, they were one of the most
powerful countries in the Medieval World.
The diary of a Venetian Merchant
Dear Diary:

The seas are now open

again. After years of
Genoese blockade, our navy
crushed them in battle. Our
new factories can now mass
produce ships, so now we
have full control of the sea.

So, I purchased as thousands of Venetians

much glass as I could, and
set sail to Constantinople.
There we never used to be
welcome because of our
riches. They even massacred
decades ago. But ever since
the 4th Crusade we are free
to enter and our quarter has
been restored to its former
glory.
Dear Diary:

I didn't stay long in

Constantinople, I just sold
the glass products and
moved on again. We do
produce fine glass, but that's
about the only thing we do
make, so the money can
only be made elsewhere.
They were however incredibly
But, before moving on I sick, and many of them died.
did encounter some They claimed the Mongols
Genoese sailors arriving in threw dead bodies over their
the City. They had just lost City walls during the siege
their colony in the Black Sea and spread a mysterious
to the Mongols. disease within the City.
Dear Diary:

Ever since we agreed

not to trade Christian slaves,
it has forced us to look for
new markets. Thankfully the
Mongols are always happy
to do business with us. And,
because they are constantly
conquering new lands, they
always have a huge adults to use on our ships.
selection.
This is because during
So we bought a selection our short time trading with
of Russian, Polish, Georgian the Mongols, a lot of our
and Armenian. Most were crew died, so we needed
children, that we would sell these slaves to return home.
Dear Diary:

Here we have also

been shown a new form of
currency, made entirely out
of paper. Apparently this is
accepted throughout the
Mongol Empire.
But that's not all, Marco
Polo, our fellow Venetian, So messages can be sent in
made some further claims record time, and as everyone
about this Empire. Like, they fears the Khan, they travel
have thousands of post safely. Not like here in Europe
stations from here to China and Western Asia, where
and they're all filled with soldiers, pirates and bandits
thousands of horses. constantly harass us.
 Dear Diary:

We couldn't stop in
Constantinople as they're
now terrified that we are
carrying the illness. So we
continued straight onto
Egypt.

There they will pay a

remarkably high price for So, we sold all the
the slaves. Most of Europe children to the Muslims and
Janissaries
Mamluks
insults us for trading with they will be sent straight
The Janissaries
away towerethe also slaveThey
army. soldiers,
willand like the Mamluks
The Mamluks were slavethe Muslims,
soldiers in Egypt, but ever
but they since
became they became incredibly popular. They often imprisoned the
very powerful. In fact they
theoverthrew
Crusadersthe government and
began losing then
Sultan of thebe forced
Ottoman to become
Empire if they didn't like how he was
ruled Egypt for hundreds of years.
battles, we see no point in Muslim
running and serve in the army
the country.

trading with them anymore. their entire life.

Dear Diary:

We filled our ship with

all the spices, silks and other
Eastern products and
planned to head home.
However, to justify trading
with the Muslims, we also
packed bones and pretended
they were relics. We will give
them to the Pope so he in the West. This means the
doesn't excommunicate Atlantic Ocean is open for
Venice. trading. So, there's a slight
change in plan. Instead of
Also, before we left, we going to Venice, we'll go to
heard that the Genoese had England.
defeated the Moroccan navy
Dear Diary:

These waters are filled

with Barbary pirates. These
are Muslims who go raiding
European towns looking for
slaves to bring back. They
however do not attack us
because we pay tribute
every year for safe passage. So we left, aiming to get
to Britain, somewhere I've
En-route we stop in never been before. But
Italy just briefly, but within a thankfully I recently
short space of time purchased a new invention
thousands died and the City from the Mongols, which
was put under quarantine. shows me in which direction
I'm facing.
 Rise of the Banking Families
In English Cities like London and Newcastle, they
have a “Lombard Street”. Lombardy is in
Northern Italy.
This is where the banking families would have
had their businesses and houses. And these are
still very wealthy areas in the City.
The riches acquired by the Venetians, and other
Italians, allowed them to set up international banks.
They were banned from collecting Interest on loans,
but could charge late fees. These international banks
were ran by a few families like the Medici and
Peruzzis.
Some of these families bribed their way into power,
and some even became the Pope. But, they were
forced to loan money to Kings and Kings rarely paid
them back, so they all eventually failed.
But, Venice created the first national bank in 1157,
which was far more stable.
Illicit Trade
Trading an illegal good.

Why did the Pope ban selling Christian slaves?

How did the Venetians overcome this?

What is illegal to trade now?

How do governments stop these goods from being traded?

Hanseatic League