A contribution to the knowledge of seaborne trade between Dalmatia and Istria in the 17th and 18th centuries

Abstract

The relationships between Dalmatia and Istria in the past have not been given much attention in our historiography. This is why the Author, as a specific contribution to this problem, tries to give as many details as possible on the subject of seaborne trade between these two Venetian possessions in the 17th and 18th centuries. Working on the research of seaborne trade in Dalmatia in the 18th century, making use of the extant export-import licenses, he came upon some sporadic data which shed some light upon these relations. The documents show, more or less, relations between Makarska, the Central Adriatic islands, as well as Šibenik, Zadar, Pag and other points in Dalmatia with ports in Istria. Dalmatia sold the majority of its agricultural surplus, that is: wine, vinegar, brandy and cattle, salted fish and some raw material (tar, iron) in Venetian Istria, buying there small quantities of white salt. Some Istrian shipowners/merchants sometimes offered colonial and other goods in Dalmatian ports. Documents seldom mention the types of ships used by Istrian shipowners to transport their own and other merchants' goods: they were usually small sailboats, between the types known as »brazzera« and »trabaccolo«, designed exclusively for short-range coastal navigation.