Assistance to Ships and Cargo Handling in the Early Modern Port of Genoa

Each port is confronted with different operational problems, posed by its harbour, traffic features, economic policies established by the government with jurisdiction over the port, or by other structural factors that are likely to change with time. During the early modern age, following the commercial revolution that had taken place two centuries earlier and the subsequent changes in maritime transport, as well as in the circulation of goods and capital, wide swaths of Western Europe underwent sweeping economic and social changes. The population was growing, albeit slowly, and becoming increasingly concentrated in urban areas. At the same time, the volume and variety of traded products were growing, while the network of maritime traffic was expanding to include the New World. The port of Genoa – examined here from the beginning of the 16th century to the years immediately following the fall of the Republic and the advent of the Savoy rule – is the perfect case in point. When the glorious days of the Maritime Republics were over and their Black Sea colonies lost, at the beginning of the modern age, Genoese merchants progressively shifted their economic interests towards the western Mediterranean. At the same time, they began getting involved in both trade and financial businesses, establishing close relations with the Spanish Crown, and becoming its main financiers. In this new phase of its history, Genoa regained the leading role it had previously lost, although it had always been one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. The port, whose facilities had been revamped in the late Middle Ages, became the centre of a wider economic system capable of efficiently handling increasing traffic volumes. This work aims to examine the organisation of the port of Genoa, with particular focus on its workforce, identifying any relevant rearrangements that had to be made over time in order to cope with concurrent traffic increase and changes.