Maltese entrepreneurs in Spain 1750s-1850s : some lessons for the present

Abstract

The transfer of technology is often cited as an important component of economic development and Cipolla has pointed out that through the ages migrants have been the principal agents for the transfer of technology. But migrants were, and are, responsible not just for the transfer of technology but for the transfer of commercial know-how, financial capital, entrepreneurial spirit and a great deal more besides. The role of foreign craftsmen, sailors, merchants, financiers and professionals in the rise of classical examples of economic development, such as the Northern Netherlands and later of England, has been amply demonstrated. Early Modern Spain was reliant for much of its entrepreneurial and technical skills on foreigners who staffed its standing army and much of its navy, and manned the munitions, shipbuilding, luxury goods and other large enterprises promoted by the state. They were also largely responsible for its financial and commercial networks. In the eighteenth century and earlier, Genoese, Dutch, French, English and other foreign merchants dominated Spain's external trade. But much of domestic commerce was also in the hands of foreigners, particularly in the prosperous Kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia, and Andalusia. This was especially the case for retailing which in the eighteenth century underwent a veritable explosion. In Malaga and Valencia, two of the most prosperous cities on Spain's Mediterranean littoral, the number of textile retail outlets underwent a three-fold increase in the space of a few decades.