Week 3 Reflection

Shw Lew

27 October 2015

Making the Mediterranean

Week 3 Reflection

            We have learned that the Mediterranean is known to be a contact zone where different trade routes intertwine and where different cultures meet and clashes. This week’s reading and lecture continues to expand on that idea. Braudel states that the Mediterranean area is the sum of its trade routes where immense urban networks. Autostrada, for example, a great cross-country highway linking towns exists in such area (Braudel, 203). The Mediterranean trade routes were not only exclusively through sea but it also included land. Braudel also states that the Mediterranean is not only a source for trade but it is a source of unity between different nations and countries. Because of these trade routes and unification, small cities such as Venice and Genoa were able to have a massive population increase in the 15^th and 16^th century. Venice, due to its geographical location, was subjected to many flows of immigration from Albanians to Greeks to Persians and to Armenians.

            Venice and Genoa were known to be the two greatest cities in the 16^th century of the Mediterranean and because of their trade connection and reliance with Constantinople, Venice and Genoa’s commercial and economic status continues to increase (Wright, 1999). Venetians merchants and agents had access to all sorts of products of the East, Syria and Egypt including spices and silk.  Wright mentions that Venice was able to enter “a self-contained system of budding capitalists’ (252).  Venice continues to grow richer and more wealthier and attracting more people to the city and its territories. Venice eventually became fantastically rich where merchants could be found all over the world.  Furthermore, wealthy people who saw the land as a protection against inflation soon populated the city and territories of Venice (Wright, 256).   

            Venice and Genoa continues to thrive from the trade networks and more and more immigrants continued to come to these small cities. The increase of population and increase in wealth positively affected Venetian’s lifestyle. As we learned in class, Venetians were known to live a luxurious lifestyle where they were fashionable people wearing fancy items of clothing, and they were able to entertain themselves with various activities such as fine dining, drinking wine, dancing in ball rooms and listening to music. We were able to watch from a clip of Shakespeare’s The Merchants of Venice where we saw Venetians to be living a pleasant lifestyle and them being portrayed as high in their society. Additionally, the movie portrayed Venetians courtesans to be elite and educated far apart from normal prostitutes.

            Historically, Venice was known to attract wealthy people and that it was portrayed as a place of luxury, education and art. This is interesting to me because Venice and Italy as whole today, in my opinion, is still viewed as a place of luxury, education and art. For example, we see it as a place of luxury as Italy, especially Venice, because it attracts enormous amounts of tourists from all over the world. From my experiences in Florence and my weekend trip to Rome and Venice, I was able to see that Italy is definitely a place for education and art as many of the greatest artist like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci’s works are displayed in museum all over Italy.