Camlet Manufacture, Trade in Cyprus and the Economy of Famagusta from the Thirteenth to the Late Fifteenth Century

The economic rise of Famagusta began in the 1260s with the growing settlement of refugees from the coastal cities of the Crusader or Frankish Levant conquered by the Mamluk sultans of Egypt. Famagusta’s commercial function expanded substantially after the fall of the Frankish states in 1291. The city became the main transit station for commercial exchanges between western ports on the one hand, Egypt and Syria on the other, and was inserted within the vast and complex commercial network of the Mediterranean. With varying fortunes the city maintained its function as major port in that framework from the late thirteenth century until 1489, when Venice imposed its direct rule over Cyprus.1