Jan-Maat’s Reviews > De Middellandse Zee: De Samenleving en de Staat, deel #2 > Status Update
Jan-Maat
is on page 219 of 679
Pepper. I woke up in the dark hours of last night thinking about this. On the XVIth century Portugal controlled the supply of pepper to Europe. In 1586 Phillip II signed a contract for a consortium to buy up that pepper for wholsale into European countries at a fixed rate. The consortium had 20 shares, 7 of which were held by the Fuggers - a German banking family
— Feb 13, 2026 09:09AM
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Jan-Maat’s Previous Updates
Jan-Maat
is on page 535 of 679
At the same time there was no let up in Christians trading with Algiers - principally to buy up stolen goods
— Mar 01, 2026 02:59AM
Jan-Maat
is on page 533 of 679
In response to the taking of captives by pirates the papacy set up in 1581 a body to ransom them, followed by Sicily in 1596 and Genoa in 1597. Braudel mentions there is an achive of material in Genoa deali g with the ransom of prisoners and their lives in captivity.
— Mar 01, 2026 02:57AM
Jan-Maat
is on page 532 of 679
Some figures from venice, between 1592 and 1609 between 250 and 300 ships were captured by pirates (about 16 per year). 90 of the attackers have been identified 44 were Muslim, 24 English or Dutch, and 22 Spanish.
The typical pirate ship was small and very lightly armed - built for speed not firepower.
— Mar 01, 2026 02:53AM
The typical pirate ship was small and very lightly armed - built for speed not firepower.
Jan-Maat
is on page 531 of 679
A Portuguese prisoner in Algiers estimated that between 1621 and 1627 there were five thousand people captured by purstes and kept prusoner in Algiers including Portuguese, flemmings, scots, english, danes, irish, Hungarians, slavs, spaniards, french, italians, syrians, egyptians, Japanese, chinese, Mexicans and Ethiopians!
— Mar 01, 2026 02:46AM
Jan-Maat
is on page 530 of 679
Simon Simonsen (alias Simon Danser) of Dordrecht arrived in Algiers in 1609 as a pirate, with a ship built in Lübeck and a crew made up of Turks, Dutch and English. Converted to Islam, later returned to Christianity in Marseille where he had a wife and daughter. 1616 he was 3xecuted for piracy in Tunis.
So we see the flexible labour market of the period
— Mar 01, 2026 02:34AM
So we see the flexible labour market of the period
Jan-Maat
is on page 505 of 679
A grandson of Columbus, Luis, was slightly too fond of getting married and so ended up arrested in Valladolid for trigamy. Sentenced to ten years of ecile he died in the spanish controlled town of Oran in the nineth year of his sentence.
— Feb 27, 2026 01:18PM
Jan-Maat
is on page 438 of 679
Braudel cites a 1940s book about Dante which argues that the legendary voyages of Saint Brenden are an Irish version of the voyages of sinbad the sailer.
I believe the manuscript history of St.Brenden stories predates the Sinbad tradition which complicates matters slightly...
— Feb 21, 2026 01:07PM
I believe the manuscript history of St.Brenden stories predates the Sinbad tradition which complicates matters slightly...
Jan-Maat
is on page 413 of 679
The slow process of change and cultural adoption. Use of Arabic numerals forbidden in Florence-1299, likewise in Freiburg in 1520, used in Antwerp only from the end of the 16th century.
Spread of paper, Bagdad 794, 11th century Valencia and Greece, western europe from circa 1350
'Spanish' men's fashion that emerged 14th century stemmed from Siberia while the women's fashions from Cyprus came from Tang China
— Feb 21, 2026 01:09AM
Spread of paper, Bagdad 794, 11th century Valencia and Greece, western europe from circa 1350
'Spanish' men's fashion that emerged 14th century stemmed from Siberia while the women's fashions from Cyprus came from Tang China
Jan-Maat
is on page 412 of 679
Braudel says that even now (ie 1960s) the lifestyle in Croatia, despite being mixed with many other influences, is like that in Italy, although of an Italy of long ago.
Here I would have liked some examples - which even the footnotes deny me.
— Feb 20, 2026 12:58PM
Here I would have liked some examples - which even the footnotes deny me.
Jan-Maat
is on page 402 of 679
Coffee arrived in Constantinople around 1550, in venice about 1580, it only reach France and England in the 17th century (Marseille- 1646)
— Feb 19, 2026 01:00PM
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That was an engrossing little travelogue in itself, thanks for sharing the intricacies of the pepper routes to Europe! :)
P.E. wrote: "That was an engrossing little travelogue in itself, thanks for sharing the intricacies of the pepper routes to Europe! :)"Oh that is only the half of it - pepper was still coming in via the original classic route up the Red Sea into Egypt.
In a few years it was all going to change when the Dutch started to push the Portuguese out of the east Indies and dominated the spice trade to Europe
In 1591 they moved 14,000 quintals of pepper (14,000,000 kilos) in to Germany via Lübeck (which is an interesting choice itself). And that is how pepper from Asia got into the European pepper mill in the late XVIth century