The contribution of the Commercial Companies in Transylvania to the development of the Romanian foreign trade in the 17th century
The contribution of the Commercial Companies in Transylvania to the development of the Romanian foreign trade in the 17th century

Summary/Abstract: From the second half of the 16th century many Balkan and Levantine merchants arrived in Transylvania, their growing number and the ever increasing quantity of commercialized products determined the authorities to give them some privileges. In the 17th century the Greek Companies of Sibiu and Braşov were funded; their members included not only Greek but also Bulgarian, Serbian, Hebrew, Macedonian or Armenian had an important role in the Transylvanian foreign trade development. The “Greek” Companies meant to be an association of merchants united by common interests; their purpose was to obtain privileges that might allow members a better development of their commercial activities. These companies had a particular statute among the other companies of the time for they didn’t have the direct support of the Ottoman Empire authorities to who belonged most of its members. To carry out the optimal conditions for commercial activity and to share risks and profits, the merchants often joined each other directly, so that two or three people contributed to the necessary capital, and then caring for the purchase and sale of goods. More contemporary documents attest the collaboration between the members of the company from Braşov and merchants from the Romanian Principalities and Moldavia. Goods purchased by merchants in the Romanian Principalities or taken from different economic centres in the South–Eastern Europe (Ioannina, Kozani, Thessalonica, Serres, Adrianople, Filipopolis, Sofia, Tărnovo) and Asia Minor (Smyrna, Trebizond, Sinope, Constantinople) reached the members from Venice, transiting Valona or Durazzo. Goods were purchased from the lagoon city arriving for sale in the markets from Hungary, Austria, Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. The highest percentage of products purchased from the Romanian Principalities and sent to Venice had the wax, as evidenced by numerous documents from that period. Certainly, commercial companies in Transylvania played an important role in the transit of goods between the Central Europe and Orient, while helping to boost the economic life in the Romanian space.

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