The international market

he economic and commercial development of Venice and Genoa contributed to the creation of an international market in the eastern Mediterranean in the 13th century. The term "international market" denotes the creation of a market mechanism in an area where goods are produced by many, where prices are regulated, and in which there exists a currency and a banking system as well as mechanisms for the dissemination of economic and commercial information. Geographically, it covered an area consisting of continental Greece, the Ionian islands, the Aegean Sea, Crete, Constantinople, the Black Sea, Asia Minor and also Cyprus, Syria, Alexandria and Cilicia. The area of the eastern Mediterranean displayed all the features characteristic of an international market: it dealt with commodities produced in the several regions of which it was composed, and it possessed facilities for currency exchange, and a banking system, since there was no single currency. The existence of a network of merchants, mostly Italians, in almost all the cities of the eastern Mediterranean, was also a considerable asset, as they provided information on the availablity of certain goods. The prices of products were always determined in relation to their quality, which often differed from place to place, as well as to the prevailing political and financial conditions.

Between 1261 and 1354 commerce flourished in the eastern Mediterranean. The market was mainly in the hands of Italian merchants, who used it to their own advantage. However, international commerce was very important for Byzantium as well. The Byzantine merchants conducted their business either independently or in the capacity of agents. A number of them became quite wealthy, but as a whole they were never able to play a dominant role in international commercial transactions. There were several regions in the Byzantine state that played an important part in the import and export trade, while others constituted important exchange or transit centres for luxury goods and products from the exotic lands of the East destined for the Western markets.