A Contribution towards the Description of Maritime Trade in the City of Split during the XIXth Century

U ovom radu autor nastoji što bolje osvijetliti udio Splita u pomorskoj trgovini Dalmacije tijekom XIX. stoljeća. Istina, neki su to već uradili, ali tek uzgredno, ulomački. Kako je pak ostalo dosta praznina u prikazu toga problema, to je autora potaklo da ga upotpuni novim saznanjima, temeljenima na izvornim podacima. Naime, on ovdje iznosi neke nove verbalne i brojčane podatke o robnom i lučkom prometu Splita u raznim etapama navedenog stoljeća. To se najviše odnosi na izvoz nekih poljodjelskih proizvoda domaće provenijencije, napose vina i maslinova ulja, ali i onaj živog blaga, soli i drugog. Jednako tako prikazuje uvoz nekih roba morskim putem. Boljem sagledavanju njegove pomorske trgovine svakako koristi i podrobniji prikaz lučkog prometa i vrijednosti prometane robe. Sve to svjedoči pomorsko- trgovačko značenje onodobnog Splita, napose u drugoj polovini navedenog stoljeća.In the paper the author attempts to give as fullest description as possible of the part played by the city of Split in Dalmatian maritime trade during the XIXth century. Truth to say, others have dealt with this but only in passing. Since blanks have remained in this endeavor the author felt prompted to address the problem with new insights founded generally on archival source which have yielded new verbal and numerical data. Namely, Split made efforts to use to its advantage its exceptionally favorable and attractive location in the middle of the Dalmatian coast through intermediary maritime trade. After the tumultuous period of Napoleon when it partially took advantage of the existence of the lazaretto and acted as a mediating point between the then hinterland and the North Adriatic harbors, the city underwent a period of stagnation caused primarily by the prohibition imposed on the passage of Turkish caravans. At one period of time the Split harbor was empty, inactive so that we read a contemporary remarking that this “brought tears” of sorrow to the eye. When authorities eventually issued a permit for the passage of the caravans the situation changed for the better (1845). In a short while Split became “a city lively with trade”, “the largest and the city most visited by travelers” in Dalmatia. However, it was only in the second part of the century that its maritime-trade significance began to grow primarily due to the exporting of wine, coal, cement clay and cement. The economic plight of Italian and French wines and their production was skillfully put to advantage so that the export of domicile wines into these and other countries reached unprecedented heights. All of this contributed to the accumulation of capital within the city and its spreading onto the European market. In connection to this the harbor traffic of Split developed so that by the end of the XIXth century it took third position within the Monarchy immediately below Trieste and Rijeka. This provided a boost to the economic growth of the city