SAILING WESTWARD: VENETIAN NAVIGATION AND COLONIAL TRADE IN THE 18TH-CEN- TURY ATLANTIC

In the 18th century, mainly from mid-century onwards, the presence of the Venetian flag outside the Adriatic Sea returned to be significant. Its shipping tonnage increased for a connubium of political and military reasons: on the one hand, the ongoing conflicts favoured the trade of neutral powers; on the other hand, the treaties signed with the Barbary regencies and Morocco allowed for the cut of the insuring costs to sail along international routes. By focusing on the period of the American War of Independence, this contribution aims to depict the establishment of Venetian shipping in the Atlantic ports of Cadiz and Lisbon, where colonial commodities, highly sought in the Mediterranean, could be retrieved. By the end of the ancient regime, the "High West ", an uncharted side of the Serenissima's maritime history, constituted a source of unprecedented opportunities for the city and its economic elites, undergoing rapid transformation.