Italian Dominance in Mediterranean Trade

This chart offers an impression of Italian dominance in Mediterranean trade. The data reflect the volume of trade between two eastern Mediterranean ports, Beirut and Alexandria, with ports on European shores, at the beginning of the fifteenth century; each figure indicates what percentage of the total volume of trade was carried by ships from a particular port or region of origin. Thus ships from Catalonia carried 25.8 percent of the harbor traffic in Beirut between 1394 and 1408; and 21% of the traffic in Alexandria during roughly the same period (1404-1405).

Port or Region of Origin	Beirut (1394-1408)	Alexandria (1404-1405)
Catalonia (Barcelona)	25.8	21.0
Basques	--	5.2
Biscaye	1.6	--
Provence	3.4	2.6
Perpignan	2.6	--
Venice	32.0	5.2
Genoa	30.2	23.6
Gaeta	0.1	--
Ancona	0.5	--
Pisa	--	2.6
Tuscany	3.3	--
Sicily	0.1	13.1
Ragusa	--	5.2
Pera	--	2.6
Cyprus	--	2.6
Malta	--	2.6
Rhodes	--	5.2
Other ports	0.4	8.5