The Geniza merchants of the eleventh-century Mediterranean – sometimes called the 'Maghribi traders' – are central to controversies about the origins of long-term economic growth and the institutional bases of trade. In this book, Jessica Goldberg reconstructs the business world of the Geniza merchants, maps the shifting geographic relationships of the medieval Islamic economy and sheds new light on debates about the institutional framework for later European dominance. Commercial letters, business accounts and courtroom testimony bring to life how these medieval traders used personal gossip and legal mechanisms to manage far-flung agents, switched business strategies to manage political risks and asserted different parts of their fluid identities to gain advantage in the multicultural medieval trading world. This book paints a vivid picture of the everyday life of Jewish merchants in Islamic societies and adds new depth to debates about medieval trading institutions with unique quantitative analyses and innovative approaches.
• Overturns widely held views that the Islamic economy was a passive middleman in trade between medieval Europe and Asia • A major contribution to debates about the institutional bases of economic growth • Sheds new light on the transition between the ancient and medieval Mediterranean economy
Contents
1. Introduction: two tales; Part I. Institutions: 2. Merchants in their community; 3. The uses of commercial correspondence; 4. The nature of merchants' trade; 5. The human landscape: business relationships, institutions of law and government; 6. Conclusion to Part I; Part II. Geographies: 7. The geography of information; 8. Commodities in a regional market; 9. Individual geographies of trade; 10. The contracting geography of the eleventh-century merchant network; 11. Conclusion: tThe Mediterranean through the eyes of Geniza merchants; Glossary of terms; Bibliography.
Reviews
'Goldberg brilliantly combines a historian's knowledge of detail and an economist's conceptual framework to enrich our understanding of transactions and their governance. She shows how the many-dimensional relationships among traders interact with multiple institutions enforcing property rights and contracts; this brings the research frontier closer to relevance and applicability. Her book is a must-read for researchers and students not only in medieval and economic history, but also in institutional and development economics.' Avinash Dixit, John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Princeton University
'Anyone interested in the history of the Mediterranean and its implications for the development of capitalism will have to read this book. It offers an exacting and innovative reading of a difficult and fascinating trove of records that have generated heated scholarly debates for over a century.' Francesca Trivellato, Yale University
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