Italians and New Christians between Lisbon and the Portuguese Empire in the late 16th century: ties and commercial partnerships

Abstract

Commercial partnerships between Italian and Jewish/New Christian merchants precede the year of the latter’s forceful conversion to Christianity in Portugal (1496-7). Following the Portuguese arrival to India, the high value trading centered on the new commodities reinforced these partnerships. After the first decades of the 16th century they became regular. This paper aims to present some modi operandi of one such joint ventures – that of Milanese merchant Giovan Battista Rovellasca through his connection to the Ximenes de Aragão family – by detecting its constants and/or variations, as well as by understanding how these families entailed a set of relationships based on trust that allowed them to participate in a complex and global system of trade.