Status Updates From Civiltà e imperi del Medite...

Pattern of Arab and later Turkish conquests shaped, says Braudel, by the capabilities of the Camel. Therefore a tendendency to go round and avoid mountainous or highland regions and to keep to the plains.

Successful agricultural land improvement projects in the 16th century were all in the vicinity of large cities; Venice, Milan, Algiers and so on.

Iirragated areas around towns in Castile were used for agriculture. When Philip II wanted to extend the Prado he could only do so by having the neighbiuring gardens, orchards, and urban vineyards bought up and cleared.

A venician traveller on the coast of Syria on 1553 remarked that people sprinkled snow over their food as in venice people did with sugar. Stroking detail in the trade in snow and snow melt. Traded into Malta and Cairo, Rome and Spain in the 16th century