ABSTRACT
In a notable article published a quarter of a century ago, the English economic historian Peter Musgrave posited that, in the context of the maritime European spice trade with Asia, the period from the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth century witnessed a shift from what he terms the “economics of uncertainty” to a more whiggish, optimistic view of trade within a context of “growth economics”. The economic history of the minority communities in Cyprus in the Ottoman period has yet to be taken seriously, although it is to be hoped that the papers contributed to the present volume will mark a step in the right direction. The development of Larnaca and the coming into existence of a “Frankish” community there in the course of the 17th century seems to be somewhat less than precisely documented. It might be thought that Feau’s manifest indignation was merely a matter of consular and national pride, but there were weightier considerations involved.
