The Italian Cities Renaissance and the Mediterranean (xv^e-xvi^e siècles)

This article goes through the main phases of finance and trade in the Mediterranean during the Renaissance, following the international activity of the main Italian cities: Florence, Genoa and Venice. European international finance probably has its origins in the activities carried out on behalf of the Pontifical States as early as the 11th century. The Islamic world was, at the dawn of this "papal revolution", the centre of the Mediterranean. However, Islamic finance did not prevail in the Mediterranean, probably because it was unable or unwilling to move far beyond the limits that religion imposed on it. If Florentine banking marked the 14th century, Genoese finance outweighed in the 16th century Venice that prevailed in the 15th century. The dynamics that linked these cities to the shores of the Mediterranean gave rise to capitalism, especially financial capitalism. The great discoveries and in particular Vasco de Gama's voyage to India around the Cape of Good Hope created the conditions for the future decline of the Mediterranean.