Over the centuries – from the pandocheion in the Gospel of Luke to the fondacos in the Decameron of Boccaccio – one word evolved into many and one institution spawned an extended family of related institutions. As in any family, these institutions grew apart from each other over time and distance, and far-flung branches came to look quite different from one another. In most cases, however, their common ties remained recognizable, and were even acknowledged by the medieval merchants and travelers who encountered these hostels, colonies, and warehouses around the Mediterranean. Funduqs and fondacos thrived in all the major Mediterranean cities, in both Christian and Muslim regions (with the exception of Byzantium), throughout the medieval period. This institutional group always retained a fundamentally Mediterranean character. Despite its broad diffusion across political, religious, and linguistic frontiers, it only established firm roots in areas close to this sea.

A shared culture of trade and travel in the medieval Mediterranean world supported the ubiquitous distribution of these institutions. In their turn, pandocheions, funduqs, and fondacos facilitated the travel and business activities of merchants, pilgrims, and other wayfarers. Pandocheions took in guests from all walks of life, and were thus shared spaces familiar to pagans, Jews, and Christians throughout the eastern Mediterranean in late antiquity. After the seventh century, the presence of funduqs and khāns in cities throughout the Dār al-Islām came to define the very identity of these urban centers as “cities,” and these hostels promoted the development of an extensive commercial network linking all regions of the medieval Muslim world.