Merchant

The Roman grain trade

Ancient Trader Merchant Roman Trade 11 Min Read

Roman Merchant Ships The grain trade was not simply a source of profit for Rome’s merchants. In 5 BC Augustus Caesar distributed grain to 320,000 male citizens; he proudly recorded this fact in a great public inscription commemorating his victories and achievements, for holding the favour of the Romans was as important as winning victories at sea and on land.…

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Merchant 12 Min Read

Mutiny on the Madagascar

The Blackwall Frigate Madagascar (lithograph, c. 1853) The most mysterious mutiny of them all – motivated, it must be presumed (in the absence of any real evidence), by a lust for rich pickings – occurred aboard the Madagascar in 1853. The ship was one of a thoroughbred type of sailing…

Merchant 22 Min Read

Martial Merchants of the Baltic

The German Hanse, the loose association of German merchants which operated in the Baltic and North Seas from the middle of the twelfth century to the mid-seventeenth, is often referred to in modern historical surveys as the ‘Hanseatic League’. It was no such thing. The term ‘league’ implies a well…

History Merchant Ottoman Trade 27 Min Read

THIEVING OTTOMANS AND FRANKS

Portuguese outpost, Aden, 16th century. Historical artwork of the Portuguese trading post in Aden, Yemen. Portuguese trading posts were founded across Asia during the 16th century after the 1497-9 voyage by Vasco da Gama that opened the way for European maritime commerce. This artwork is from ‘Lendas da India’ (Legends…

British History Merchant Navigation Trade 16 Min Read

London: The Medieval Port

Alfred was already a battle-hardened young man when he succeeded his father to the throne of Wessex in 871 at the age of 21, having spent much of his teenage years fighting the Vikings on land and sea. Following his victory at the Battle of Edington in 878, the Viking…

Merchant Roman Trade 22 Min Read

London: The Romans and Early Saxons I

At the end of the last Ice Age the world warmed and the glaciers melted. Large volumes of water flowed from Britain, south and east, through what is now the London area, which at times would have been completely submerged by a very wide river. The rising water level formed…

Merchant Roman Trade 18 Min Read

London: The Romans and Early Saxons II

Roman ships When Julius Caesar’s fleet took part in a battle against the ships of the Veneti tribe of Brittany in 56 BC he noted how their vessels were better than his own for the conditions of the Atlantic coast. The Veneti ships had shallower keels that were more suited…

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The Roman grain trade

Roman Merchant Ships The grain trade was not simply a source of profit for Rome’s…

London: The Romans and Early Saxons I

At the end of the last Ice Age the world warmed and the glaciers melted.…

London: The Romans and Early Saxons II

Roman ships When Julius Caesar’s fleet took part in a battle against the ships of…

THIEVING OTTOMANS AND FRANKS

Portuguese outpost, Aden, 16th century. Historical artwork of the Portuguese trading post in Aden, Yemen.…