The Mediterranean: Imperial Networks and Cosmopolitanism

Despite the notoriety of the the Mediterranean’s political systems, it also served as a nucleus of economic, social, and cultural exchange. Ports and city states played a central role in building a unique network of communication in the Mediterranean. For example, aside from military might, another factor that constituted to the successful creation of a might Ottoman empire was its ability to absorb from those which they conquered the systems that were in place and which worked, to use the capital and knowledge of the foreign merchants with which they interacted (Fleet, 2006). Similarly Venice and Genoa developed a self-contained system of building capitalists and evolved into superior and wealthy states through their role as a hub of trade (Wright, 1999).

The interdependence of the Ottoman and Genoese economies is an example of the cosmopolitanism of the Mediterranean.  Genoese capital and knowledge played an important role in the development of the Ottoman economy, and similarly commerce with the Turks contributed considerably to the wealth of the state of Genoa. An example of the Ottoman empire’s ability to absorb is its use of tax farmers, many of which were Latin tax farmers that operated in Ottoman lands in the 15th century. The presence of western merchants playing this role as tax farmers indicates that they needed to have money and expertise. It is this foreign wealth and expertise that Ottomans used in their administration of their own empire. Furthermore, these tac farms not only ensured a fixed income without the attendant risks but also created a climate in which individuals were encouraged to stimulate trading activities (Fleet, 2006). 

The mediterranean’s variety and diversity is united only through the movements and exchanges of people, their relationships and cultural elements, and the trading routes they historically followed. The defining feature of the Mediterranean as a unit is its immense network of regular connections and movement across these lines of communication that it is made up of (Braudel, 1996). European interest in and adoption of Ottoman culture thrived once politics and trade facilitated the intensification of cultural exchange through interactions with the Ottomans. These interactions allowed Europeans to explore customs and lifestyles that weren’t so readily available in their own cultures (Bevilaqua, 2013).

As a contact zone, the Mediterranean served as a space where cultures met, merged, and clashed.  The merchants and traders were trans-imperial subjects that acted as intermediaries, a role through which they contributed to the articulation and redefinition of cultural boundaries. As members of this zone of transition, their membership was base on their being distinguished from a clearly defined social or cultural group; yet their distinction is a permeable one through which they can be excluded and included in the same time: a distinct position that designates them to be agents of mediation. They operated across linguistic, religious, and political lines and were constantly and actively shaping imperial boundaries, a huge move forward and away from the family-dominated economic system that existed in the Mediterranean prior to the 11th century. The commercial activity of Mediterranean traders, brokers, and merchants was a key link between the state and the marketplace, as well as between the local and foreign (Wright, 1999).