ISSM - International Workshop (Institutions and Maritime Transportation in the Mediterranean between Ancient Age and Modern Development)

Introduction

   The long-term changes in commerce and maritime transportation are the cause and effect of the improvement of the organization and procedures of the exchanges with repercussions on the means used, and on the judicial, economic and financial categories. The transformation of the organizational structures and the local judicial authorities appointed to control the commercial exchanges was the answer to the widening of the horizons in the Mediterranean.
   With regard to these aspects, the Institute on Studies of the Mediterranean Societies (National Research Council) has launched a multivoice project focused on a general reflection on the commercial exchanges in the Mediterranean, a reflection that is part of the scientific activities of the 'Rete Euro-Mediterranea Ramses 2, inspired and coordinated by the 'Maison Mèditerranèenne des Sciences de l'Homme d'Aix-en-Provence' and financed by the European Union within the Sixth Framework Programme Priority 7: "Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge-based Society".
   After the first meeting on "Institutions and maritime transportation in the Mediterranean between ancient age and modern development", others will follow in Trieste and Athens (2008). It is part of the project "Organisation, Institutions et Techniques de Commerce de Mer dans la Mediterranèenne de l'Antiquitè à la Croissance Moderne" realized in collaboration with the University of Bari, EFR in Rome, MMSH-CCJ and Telemme (Aix-en-Provence), NHRF (Athens), CISEM (Univ. of Trieste).
   In these seminaries ISSM aims at examining the role of the institutions in relation with the evolution and the problems of navigation in the Mediterranean countries, with particular focus on the regulations, on the economic, commercial, health, customs and fiscal policies, and on commercial and insurance contracts accepted at domestic and international borders.