Trading networks and empires in the modern era

This year's 2017-2018 lectures were devoted to a subject considered a classic since the time of Fernand Braudel's (1902-1985) teaching at the Collège de France: the place of merchant networks in the empires of the modern era (i.e. from the ^15th to the 18th^century ). As we know, Braudel devoted a significant part of his work to this question within the geographical framework of the Christian and Muslim Mediterranean in modern times, before embarking on a broader reflection on a global scale in his works on the relationship between capitalism and civilization. In the SEVPEN collection published under his direction ("Ports-Routes-Trafics"), a significant number of works deal with issues relating to the trade of Italians, Marranos and other groups. Among the publications in this series, we should also mention the collections of medieval and modern merchant letters, which remain an important source for both economic and social/cultural history.