Corsairing to Commerce: Maltese Merchants in XVIII Century Spain.(Brief Article)

CARMEL VASSALLO, Corsairing to Commerce: Maltese Merchants in XVIII Century Spain (Valletta: Malta University Publishers, 1997. Pp.xxvii + 378. ISBN 99909 45 04 7, $30).

During the early eighteenth century, Maltese merchants continued to import grain and other foodstuffs from their traditional suppliers in Sicily and Calabria. They also obtained military supplies from Marseilles. But most significantly of all, according to Carmel Vassallo, this period also marked their 'discovery' of the Iberian peninsula and, in particular, Spain. The opening up of the Spanish trade offered a solution to the severe crisis affecting income and employment in the island's economy. …