Norman Trade in Palermo
1 media/800px-Палермо_thumb.jpg 2023-05-11T09:06:28-07:00 James J Walsh 82e88f44989398ce3da36e519ea57a917fadcc70 42813 1 Palermo, like other Norman trade cities, provided more than just an influx of foreign goods. They also presented an opportunity for outside ideas to enter their domain and be implemented in their society and politics. plain 2023-05-11T09:06:29-07:00 James J Walsh 82e88f44989398ce3da36e519ea57a917fadcc70This page is referenced by:
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Cross-Cultural Trade in Norman Africa
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The Normans allowing Sicilian Berbers and other Siculo-Normans to immigrate to the Kingdom of Africa helped with expanding the diversity of trade in the local economy. While the region already had a history of trade throughout the Mediterranean, North African trade seemed to be relatively limited to Muslim nations. However, the combination of Christian rule and the religious and cultural tolerance of a majority Muslim population created an environment for Norman African coastal cities like Tunis, Mahdia, and Tripoli to obtain an economic boom. This boom also resulted from a diverse cast of merchants and merchant republics establishing trade routes and posts throughout North Africa, which also allowed Christian and Muslim powers to trade freely with one another despite the religious tensions at the time. Scholars during the reign of Norman Africa, such as the Arab historian Ibn al-Athīr, admitted that the policies and tolerance of the Normans allowed struggling cities like Tripoli to prosper and grow into valuable trade hubs.
From what we can observe from Norman Africa, there are two notable trade partners that show the diversity of trade with different religious and cultural powers across the Mediterranean. The most notable one is trade with the Italian merchant republics of the time period. Republics such as Pisa, Genoa, and Venezia frequently traded and established trade posts throughout major North African cities for trade with their original Christian clients, as well as their newer Muslim clients. A second noticeable power that the Normans traded with was the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. Thanks to the tolerance of Muslims, many local Berbers continued trading with the Fatimids under Norman rule. Not only did the Berber merchants conduct trade in Egypt, but the Italians and Greeks were allowed to conduct trade within the Fatimid domain, which allowed for works and ideas to be traded between the Normans and Fatimids.
