Marseilles, the international market of olive oil (1725-1825)

Olive oil, an item of everyday consumption, together with its uses characteristic of the period 1725-1825, is dealt with in its choice trading place : marseilles. Throughout these years, which stretch from the revival after the last great plague until the first quarter of the 19th century, and in spite of the economic upheavals brought about by the many structural and technological changes of the time, olive oil strengthens its position as one of the principal wares handled in and shipped from marseilles, and is also a component of the city’s industrial activity. The existence within the town itself of factories with a specific need for this raw material used in the manufacture of soap, the famous “savon de marseille”, secured the development of a particular market, a clear example of international commercial capitalism. This trade, no longer merely local or regional, concerned all areas of olive oil production around the mediterranean, (the iberic and italian peninculas, “the levant and barbary”. . . ), and through the complex channels of re-distribution, reached to the important markets of northern europe and as far as the west indies. As the international center for reception and distribution of olive oil, marseilles at this time had no equal.