A Transnational and Cultural Perspective of Trade Networks in (and from) the Western Mediterranean (17th Century)
4 December 2024. From 18:30 | Conference | Catalan | IEMedJosep San Ruperto is Lecturer of Modern History at the University of Valencia. He earned his PhD in Early Modern History at this same university with his thesis titled “Emprendedores Transnacionales. Las trayectorias económicas y sociales de los Cernezzi y Odescalchi en el Mediterráneo occidental (1590-1689)”. His main research fields are the study of transnational merchant networks from the Mediterranean Sea to the World, the analysis of economic and social opportunities during the 17th century, and the dynamics of Valencian and Milanese elites during this same period. He is research member of the project “EMODER. Emociones de la modernidad. Sentidos y significados globales a través del género, el imperio y la nación (XVII-XIX)” financed by the Generalitat Valenciana, and the project “Ganar y perder en las sociedades de los territorios hispánicos del Mediterráneo occidental durante la Edad Moderna (WINLOSE)”, financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
ABSTRACT
In recent decades, historical studies that adopt transnational perspectives have gained relevance as a tool for analysing the past, despite their controversies and overlaps with other approaches, such as global history, which have managed to integrate them more successfully. This lecture aims to explore a possible convergence between the transnational history of merchant networks in the Western Mediterranean of the 17th century—an area of study particularly suited to this perspective—and cultural history. Aspects such as the representation of these networks, the travel narratives that reflect them, or the manifestation of trust in merchant letters allow us to approach a historical moment in which these individuals, partly merchants, faced profound transformations, especially due to the impact of the first globalisation.