A window on muslim traders in the Mediterranean through Maltese archives (1530-1565)

Abstract

It will be the main concern of this paper to try and offer a picture of the Mediterranean where different cultures and religions, apart from clashing, found it also opportune to move along each other’s shores to trade despite their traditional enmity. Malta, the official base of the Knights of St John, and as such considered the epitome of the Christian fight against the Muslim, offers an excellent example of this paradox. This paper will seek to outline the practical way in which commercial and financial activities functioned under such circumstances. Such analysis is essential if one needs to probe into the actions of the different stakeholders in Mediterranean trade since these were very traditional and often bound by strong religious beliefs. From this study the contradiction which existed between the Knights’ economic needs and their spiritual needs becomes strikingly obvious. On the one hand the Knights had to live up to their reputation as Christendom’s bulwark against the Muslim, and on the other, they had an interest in keeping open commercial links with Ottoman trading posts spread throughout the Mediterranean. Thus, there existed other realities apart from that of total hostility between the cross and the crescent which come to the fore when tackling and investigating daily operations of the different stakeholders in trade.