Bartolomeo Marchionni

Bartolomeo Marchionni (* probably 1449 ; † 1523 or later) was a Florentine merchant who worked in Lisbon at the beginning of the Portuguese expansion . He was significantly involved in the beginning slave trade with black Africans and in the Portuguese Indian fleets.

Marchionni was probably born in Florence in 1449 . In 1470 he went to Portugal on behalf of Bank Cambini , where he became commercially active after the bankruptcy of the bank. Marchionni invested in the Atlantic companies of the Portuguese and, in cooperation with other Florentine trading houses, marketed a wide range of goods, such as: B. Madeira sugar or pepper, and was active in the exchange business.

He and his partners enjoyed the protection of the Portuguese crown since 1475, and five years later he even received Portuguese citizenship. He started trading with West African slaves and sold them first in Spain and later throughout Europe . He participated in the Portuguese Indian fleets with ships he financed.

From 1523 his traces are lost.

literature

Maria Teresa Ciampolini (2007): Marchionni, Bartolomeo, in: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Volume 69. Roma 2007, pp. 700-701. on-line