Review article
The History of Commercial, Trades and Craft and Banking Activities in Šibenik between 1921 and 1941
Milivoj Blažević
; State Archives in Šibenik, Šibenik, Croatia
Abstract
The town of Šibenik from as long ago as Venetian rule until the early 20th century was established as an important commercial and transportation centre with developed trades and crafts. From the end of the 19th century, during the period of the town’s transformation from a farming into a commercial and industrial centre of the province of Dalmatia, it grew into the most important export port of Dalmatia, and after Trieste and Rijeka it was the most important shipping port on the eastern Adriatic coast. Starting in 1921, through the period of the newly formed state, the town’s businessmen tried to make Šibenik a more important place both commercially and transport-wise. Commerce, trades and crafts and a handicraft industry developed in the town on the basis of infrastructure assumptions (railway, roads, hospital, water supply, electrification) from an earlier period, which resulted in the development of the middle and upper merchant classes. The struggle for an independent Chamber of Commerce, based in Šibenik, to cover a wider area of Dalmatia was dominant in the period between 1921 and 1941. By exporting mineral wealth from the hinterland (Drniš, Knin, Bosnia) and the surplus of agricultural products (wine, oil, pyethrum etc.), Šibenik guaranteed itself an important place in national trade in this difficult economic period, gradually encouraging the growth and importance of private initiative in trade services. Based on the original material, this paper for the first time gives an overview of this industry during that period.
Keywords
Šibenik; goods turnover; trades and crafts; banking; 20th c
Hrčak ID:
63902
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2010.
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