Tuscan merchants in Andalusia: a historiographical debate

This study intervenes in the debate concerning the crisis of the Mediterranean world and its merchant bankers following the European expansion, shedding new light on the presence and role of Tuscan merchants in Andalusia during the sixteenth century. Their business strategy was more successful than previously thought: this assumption comes from comparisons between quantitative data and the descriptions offered by Tuscan sources, as well as the written documentation held by Spanish archives. Their networks, which included the main economic hubs of Europe, as well as the financial instruments they would use, allowed the Tuscan merchants to play a role of paramount importance in the Andalusian market. In addition, they invested money in the transatlantic trade, in the manufacturing activities of the West Indies and, in general, in other financial and insurance enterprises.