Trade and Urban Development in Poland: An Economic Geography of Cracow, from its Origins to 1795

Description

This 1994 study uses the experience of Cracow to illuminate general patterns of trade and urban growth in central and eastern Europe over several centuries. Dr Carter emphasizes the spatial aspects of commodity analysis during the later medieval and early modern periods, and traces the impact of political circumstance on commercial progress and mercantile evolution. He describes the regions and places of especial significance for Cracow's trade development, and examines the principal trading flows and commodity movements within the overall context of European economic and social change. Based upon an intensive analysis of primary sources, Trade and Urban Development in Poland breaks new ground in its examination of the impact of commerce on urban growth over the longue duree, and will make a major contribution to our understanding of the historical geography of Europe.

"...not simply one more history of a town but a geographical study of its commerce [which] has methodological pioneering ambitions." Journal of Economic History "F.W. Carter has given medievalists a model study of one town's commercial connections and thus a challenge, too. Can specialists in western or Mediterranean Europe construct comparable treatments of medieval urban centers there?" Richard Hoffmann, Speculum- A Journal of Medieval Studies "Because no analagous systematic synthesis of materials exists for any Polish city, this work will undoubtedly be of great service to anyone intersted in the economic history of Poland. It is clearly the product of herculean labors and for this the author deserves great praise." Gershon Hundert, American Historical Review