MRP: Zante
Zante
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02/12/11, CSG: Created page
06/12/11, CSG: Uploaded Mercatoris map of Graecia showing Zante (alias Zanta)
27/12/11, CSG: Added hypertext Table of Contents
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Graecia plate in Gerardi Mercatoris, Atlas Minor (Amsterdam, 1634), p. 555; out of copyright book and image
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Early nineteenth century descriptions of Zante and its trade
A general dictionary of commerce, trade, and manufactures (London, 1810): entry on 'Zante'
"Zante. -- An island in the Grecian sea. Zante is extremely fertile in corn, and produces abundance of cherries, from the kernels of which is made a liquor called marasquin, and which is highly esteemed in Itlay and France. The chief commodity of this island is, howver, its currants (uvae Corinthiacae). There are only two vineyards that produce the grapes, which when dried are denominated Zante currants, and are situated in a delightful plain about the middle of the island; the grapes are gathered in the month of August, and are laid on the ground to dry; when perfectly dried they are carried to the capital of the island, and lodged in warehouses, called seraglios, being poured into them by means of large doors in their roofs, until the warehouses are completely filled; and they adhere so closely when thus lodged, that immediately before their being barrelled, they are obliged to be removed with iron utensils....Foreign vessels must obtain permission to take in cargoes of currants at any of the islands subject to the Venetians. There are other species of grapes grown in Zante, from which excellent strong wines are made. Oil of good quality is also made here, but this, as well as the wine, cannot be exported in foreign vessels; and that part which remains after the home consumption being supplied, is sent to Venice....
Cephalonia.--The chief production of this island, which is situated near Zante, is currants, similar to the produce of the latter. Cephalonia is likewise fertile in olives and in vines, but especially in that species of vine called by the French muscat rouge, or red muscadine. The merchants of Zante purchase all the currants produced in Cephalonia, and hence this island has no commerce of its own, in a direct way, even with Italy. Cephalonia or Argostoli is the principal port."[1]
Early nineteenth century description of Venice to Morea and onwards trade
"MOREA
Formery called Peloponnesus, is a peninsula joined to the rest of Greece by an isthmus, called the Isthmus of Corinth, and surrounded by islands called the islands of the Archipelago. First, respecting the islands situate on the Mediterranean side. Zante, Cephalonia, and Corfu, are the principal of the seven constituting the Ionian republic, which formerly belonged to Venice, but now form an anomalous kind of state under the protection of Great Britain...
...[of the seven Ionian islands] Zante alone, exports (chiefly to England,) 7,000,000lbs. of oil, 60,000 barrels and 4000 casks of wine - Cephalonia exports nearly similar quantities of these articles. Zante is the most fertile, as well as the most beautiful, of these islands...
...With respect to the Morea itself, it is sufficient to observe, that in all parts of the Peninsula, provisions are plentiful and cheap, and money of more value than in any other part of the Mediterranean: in consequence of which there is no good market for any considerable quantity of manufactured goods. lead and tin are always in demand, but only in small quantities at any one port. Ships that taje cargoes of fish to Venice or Trieste, where there is always a great consumption, may take in ballast and run down the Gulf of Venice and load immediately in the Morea, instead of waiting in those ports for a cargo. It would be a difficult task to attempt giving a particular description of the various articles the produce of the Morea, they being so very numeroud; currants, fustic, cotton, volonia for tanning, and olive oil are among the principal; besides these, are to be reckoned some sorts of fruits, gums, drugs, madder, &c. &c.
Currants, it has been observed, are a considerable article of export from the Morea; Petrasso is one of the best ports to ship them from; the fruit is rather larger and more free from and or gravel, than that of either Zante or Corfu. They are shipped in various sized casks, from twenty hundred weight to fifty pounds. The quantity shipped must weight above five hundred weight net, otherwise, they are liable to seizure. The casks are always included in the weight of the fruit, and paid for as such; the Morea currants have the preference in most countries, except England, where the Zante currants are more merchantable."[2]
Merchants trading with Zante
Charles Longland
Charles Longland, writing in 1653 from Livorno to John Thurloe, mentions Zante shipping:
- Here is in this port about ten Duch men of war, who intend sudenly to go out to look for som of our ships, which they conceiv may com from Newsoundland with fish, as also a ship or two going hom from Zant.[3]
Phillip Williams
The Livorno based merchant Phillip Williams bequeathed in his will, written in 1648, an investment in the Zant Merchant, together with investments in other ships:
- IMPRIMIS I give and bequeath to my deare and loving brother William Williams in London Merchant six hundred pounds in money and my parts of the ships Margaret, Edward, Paramore, Retourne (or the quond:m Zant M:rchant) and the Casar which I value at about four hundredd pounds more
William Williams
Richard Grassby portrays the London merchant and draper William Williams as primarily a Mediterranean merchant, exporting dressed cloth and dozens from Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Devon and importing currants from Zante. His father was John Williams, a London draper.[4]
Deposition on captivity of Jacob Searle, made at Plymouth, 30 Charles II
"To the third Interr this depon:t sayth that he hath often heard and beleiveth that Jacob Searle the Nephew in the Interr named was aboute Eight or Nyne and Twenty yeares since as this depon:t remembreth taken captive by the Turkes as he was cominge out of Zante beinge loaden as this Depon:t hath heard into ??carracs & ?carried into Trippoly"[5]
The Legorne Merchant voyaging to Zante, 1668-1669
The Legorne Merchant
The Legorne Merchant, captained by David Hamilton, and later by others, regularly pursued the Mediterranean trade, taking out a range of cargos to assorted Mediterranean ports, and returning with currants and olive oil from Zant.
- See C10/160/41 f. 1 (Chancery suit concerning the chartering of the Legorne Merchant in December 1668 for a nine month voyage to the Mediterranean. The ship's late departure, lead to the ship's late arrival in Zant, and allegedly led to the purchase of currants in Zant at higher than necessary prices and their subsequent sale in London at lower than expected prices
- See C10/160/41 f. 3 Voyage accounts for the Legorne Merchant, December 1668-September 1669, including disbursements in Zante
The Spanish trade links to the Zante currant trade
The Spanish Company
Pauline Croft comments in her study of the Spanish Company on the close link between Spain and the expanding (east) Mediterranean trade in the early C17th, and notes that the puchase of currants from Zante was dependent on trade with Spain, since currant purchase was "largely financed by the dollars and pieces of eight picked up en route at ports such as Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga and Alicante". Crofts adds "A third of the charter members of the revived Levant Company of 1605 were also members of the Spanish Company, and the proportion would probably have been higher had not the latter been abolished soon after the incorporation of the former."[6]
Modern historiography of Zante
"The island of Zante
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- ↑ Thomas Mortimer, A general dictionary of commerce, trade, and manufactures: exhibiting their present state in every part of the world; and carefully comp. from the latest and best authorities (London, 1810), unpaginated, section Europe, Google p. 178. See http://books.google.co.uk/ebooks/reader?id=FdovAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&pg=GBS.RA7-PA10-178, viewed 27/12/11
- ↑ Joseph Blunt, The merchant's and shipmaster's assistant: containing information useful to the American merchants, owners, and masters of ships (New York, 1822), p. 411. See http://books.google.co.uk/ebooks/reader?id=iytLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&pg=GBS.PA411, viewed 27/12/11
- ↑ See 5th September 1653, Letter from Mr. Longland to secretary Thurloe (Thomas Birch (ed.), 'State Papers, 1653: August (5 of 5)', A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, vol. 1: 1638-1653 (London, 1742), pp. 435-445. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=55271 Date accessed: 20 December 2011)
- ↑ See Notes section of John Williams will
- ↑ SeeC20/803/34 f. 7
- ↑ Pauline Croft (ed.), 'Introduction: The revival of the company, 1604-6', The Spanish Company, London Record Society 9 (?London, 1973), pp. XXIX-LI. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63965 Date accessed: 07 December 2011, citing Morton Epstein, Levant Company (London, 1908), pp. 158–60.
