ABSTRACT
It is frequently assumed that Italian merchants had limited direct contact with global trade circuits, as they could not count on vigorous state machineries to penetrate the increasingly competitive overseas markets. As such, they mostly acted as middlemen and retailers, forced to rely on local entrepots dominated by northern European merchant communities, who were ultimately responsible for linking the Mediterranean with the globe. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this Chapter shows that Genoa and the Genoese were prime actors in globalising the Mediterranean during the second half of the 17th century. It explains how Grillo’s company connected the Caribbean with Genoa through the Spanish and the Dutch Atlantic. Moreover, it shows that Grillo and his associates relied on the city of Genoa to nurture overseas and multi-imperial trade operations such as the asiento. As a relational space, the city created venues through which to mobilise capital and credit at the European level, which was critical to finance the asiento operations. Genoa also acted as an ideal market from which to redistribute American silver, indigo, cocoa, and cochineal across the Inner Sea.
