Selling Castile: Coinage, Propaganda, and Mediterranean Trade in the Age of Alfonso VIII

2019 ◽  
pp. 30-58
Author(s):  
James J. Todesca
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monetary Economy ◽  
The Mediterranean

This chapter discusses one of Alfonso VIII's paths to solidifying and advancing his kingdom—his monetary policy. As did his contemporaries throughout Latin Europe, Alfonso VIII struck silver-alloyed denarii to serve as coins of daily exchange in an expanding monetary economy. He also introduced a high-value gold piece, derived from the dinar of his Muslim neighbors, which was more suitable for long-distance trade. In the early 1170s, Alfonso VIII took the monetary initiative that helped put Castile on the European map; he began striking the gold morabetino alfonsino in Toledo. Unlike some of Alfonso VIII's early billon, his morabetino shows no sign of being a short-lived propaganda piece. Its persistent appearance in charters, both in Castile as well as in Aragon-Catalonia and Navarre, shows it filled an economic niche. Indeed, Alfonso VIII's gold morabetino played a prominent role in the Mediterranean economy.

Predator Neoliberalism

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22
Author(s):  
Kamal Dib
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Social Revolution ◽  
Socioeconomic Change ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
The Mediterranean

Lebanon, a multi-confessional state, is undergoing a deep socioeconomic change that could trigger a review of its constitutional arrangement. The tiny republic on the Mediterranean was born in 1920 as a liberal democracy with a market economy, where the Christians had the upper hand in politics and the economy. In 1975, Lebanon witnessed a major war that lasted for fifteen years, and a new political system emerged in 1989, dubbed the Ta’ef Accord. The new constitutional arrangement, also known as the “second republic,” transferred major powers to the Muslims. Under the new republic, illiberal policies were adopted in reconstruction, public finance, and monetary policy, coupled with unprecedented corruption at the highest levels. On 17 October 2019, the country exploded in a social revolution which could precipitate the death of the second republic or the demise of the country as another victim of predator neoliberalism.

scholarly journals Genome-wide footprints in the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) unveil a new domestication pattern of fruit trees in the Mediterranean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Baumel ◽  
Gonzalo Nieto Feliner ◽  
Frederic Medail ◽  
Stefano La Malfa ◽  
Mario Diguardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Plant Domestication ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Western Morocco ◽  
Carob Tree ◽  
The Mediterranean

Intense research efforts on phylogeography over the last two decades uncovered major biogeographical trends and renewed our understandings of plant domestication in the Mediterranean. We aim to investigate the evolutionary history and the origin of domestication of the carob tree that has been cultivated for millennia for food and fodder. We used >1000 microsatellite genotypes to identify carob evolutionary units (CEUs) based on genetic diversity structure and geography. We investigated genome-wide diversity and evolutionary patterns of the CEUs with 3557 SNPs generated by restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq). The 56 populations sampled across the Mediterranean basin, classified as natural, semi-natural or cultivated, were examined. Although, RADseq data are consistent with previous studies identifying a strong West-to-East genetic structure and considerable admixture in some geographic parts, we reconstructed a new phylogeographic scenario with two migration routes occurring from a single refugium likely located in South-Western Morocco. Our results do not favour the regionally bound or single origin of domestication. Indeed, our findings support a cultivation model of locally selected wild genotypes, albeit punctuated by long-distance westward dispersals of domesticated varieties by humans, concomitant with major cultural waves by Romans and Arabs in the regions of dispersal. Ex-situ efforts to preserve carob genetic resources should prioritize accessions from both western and eastern populations, with emphasis on the most differentiated CEUs situated in South-Western Morocco, South Spain and Eastern Mediterranean. Our study underscores the relevance of natural and seminatural habitats of Mediterranean forests and their refugia in the conservation efforts of tree crops.

Middle Bronze Age Long Distance Exchange through Europe and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-274
Author(s):  
Flemming Kaul
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Glass Beads ◽  
The South ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Blue Glass ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.

Trade and stowaways: molecular evidence for human-mediated translocation of eastern skinks into the western Mediterranean

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
Josep Francesc Bisbal-Chinesta ◽  
Karin Tamar ◽  
Ángel Gálvez ◽  
Luís Albero ◽  
Pablo Vicent-Castelló ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Human Movements ◽  
Allochthonous Species ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Chalcides Ocellatus ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Human movements in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea have caused a great impact in the composition of terrestrial fauna due to the introductions of several allochthonous species, intentionally or not. Reptiles are one of the groups where this anthropic impact is most evident, owing to the extensive intra-Mediterranean dispersals of recent chronologies. Chalcides ocellatus is a widespread skink with a natural distribution that covers almost the entire Mediterranean Basin. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain its origin: natural dispersions and human translocations. Previous molecular data suggest the occurrence of a recent dispersal phenomenon across the Mediterranean Sea. In this study we present the first record of this species in the Iberian Peninsula, in Serra del Molar (South-east Spain). We combined molecular analyses and archaeological records to study the origin of this population. The molecular results indicate that the population is phylogenetically closely related to specimens from north-eastern Egypt and southern Red Sea. We suggest that the species arrived at the Iberian Peninsula most likely through human-mediated dispersal by using the trade routes. Between the Iron to Middle Ages, even now, the region surrounding Serra del Molar has been the destination of human groups and commercial goods of Egyptian origins, in which Chalcides ocellatus could have arrived as stowaways. The regional geomorphological evolution would have restricted its expansion out of Serra del Molar. These findings provide new data about the impact of human movements on faunal introductions and present new information relating to mechanisms of long-distance translocations.

Rational bubbles in a monetary economy

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ge Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
Money Growth ◽  
Optimal Monetary Policy ◽  
Rational Bubbles ◽  
Monetary Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Status Seeking ◽  
Endogenous Growth Model

Abstract This study explores rational bubbles in a monetary economy using an endogenous growth model with status seeking. Rational bubbles may arise when the money growth rate is higher than some threshold level. In a bubbly economy, a higher money growth rate leads to a larger bubble size, while the monetary policy is super-neutral. However, in a bubbleless economy, the monetary policy is non-neutral. Based on a comparative analysis of the calibrated model, I argue that an optimal monetary policy that maximizes the social welfare of a bubbleless economy may trigger bubbles and hurt the economy.

Around the Mediterranean: an extreme example of loop migration in a long-distance migratory passerine

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. jav-01595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Klvaňa ◽  
Jaroslav Cepák ◽  
Pavel Munclinger ◽  
Romana Michálková ◽  
Oldřich Tomášek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Distance ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Loop Migration

Analysis of meristic and mitochondrial DNA variation in Syngnathus abaster (Teleostea: Syngnathidae) from two western Mediterranean lagoons

Biologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajer Ben Alaya ◽  
Daria Sanna ◽  
Marco Casu ◽  
Francesca Biagi ◽  
Paolo Francalacci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Brackish Water ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Genetic Structuring ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Meristic Characters ◽  
Evolutionary Forces ◽  
Mediterranean Lagoons ◽  
The Mediterranean

AbstractSyngnathus abaster is a euryhaline pipefish distributed in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and the north-eastern Atlantic. Although its populations are characterised by high morphological plasticity, neither congruent information about the morphological differentiation of S. abaster populations from the Mediterranean lagoons is available, nor population genetic surveys have been so far performed. In this context, the aims of our study were as follow: i) to describe the variation at nine meristic characters of S. abaster from two western Mediterranean brackish-water areas: the Tunis north lagoon (Tunisia) and the Mauguio lagoon (France); ii) to analyse sequences of four mitochondrial DNA regions in order to evaluate the occurrence of genetic variation between the two areas, if any. The morphological survey revealed a subdivision into two distinct groups: the first included the Tunisian specimens, the second the French ones. Genetic analysis evidenced the occurrence of a sharp genetic structuring with high levels of genetic differentiation between Tunisian and French S. abaster populations. Results suggest that the evolutionary forces driven by the different biogeographical and ecological conditions of the two Mediterranean brackish-water areas have boosted the morphological and genetic divergence of the populations here analysed. The scarce potential of long-distance dispersal of S. abaster may have also enhanced the divergence retrieved.

Two live sightings of Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) from the western Mediterranean (Tyrrhenian Sea)

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 1003-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Bittau ◽  
Mattia Leone ◽  
Adrien Gannier ◽  
Alexandre Gannier ◽  
Renata Manconi
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Beaked Whale ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The North ◽  
Western Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Beaked Whales ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
The Mediterranean

Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) was previously known in the Mediterranean Sea from a single live stranding of two individuals in the French Riviera. We report here on two live sightings in the western Mediterranean, central-western Tyrrhenian Sea off eastern Corsica (Montecristo Trough) and off eastern Sardinia (Caprera Canyon) in 2010 and 2012, respectively. In both cases single individuals, possibly the same individual, occurred within groups of Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) suggesting inter-specific interactions. Based on our close observations of mixed-species groups of Sowerby's and Cuvier's beaked whales, we hypothesize that some previous long-distance sightings of beaked whales in the Mediterranean may not be reliably attributed to Z. cavirostris. The present sightings and previous live stranding indicate that the western Mediterranean Sea is the easternmost marginal area of M. bidens within the North Atlantic geographic range. Notes on behaviour are also provided.

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