Abstract

The chapter deals with the role of Danzig in the international grain trade between the early 19th century and the First World War. The objective is to examine the extent to which changes of a general economic nature, especially industrialisation in Western Europe and the consequent changes in living standards and consumer tastes, altered the long-term characteristics of grain exports from this area. Indeed, literature has studied the period between the 16th and 18th centuries quite well but has largely neglected the ‘long 19th century.’ Only in recent years have the dynamics of grain prices in the Baltic area been studied. However, the chapter does not seek to discuss the process of integration of this commodity into world economic circuits using the proxy of price dynamics. Rather, it intends to develop a qualitative analysis of the operating mechanisms and actors that gave rise to a value chain which covered a large area of East-Central Europe. We can call it the ‘Vistula country’ (the area that today corresponds to Poland, but then, from the late 18th century, it was divided into three parts, including the Tsarist, Austro-Hungarian and German empires, respectively). This area was integrated, thanks to the existing links between several river basins, with the western areas of Ukraine and Lithuania. Central to the investigation is first the reconstruction of the structure of the value chain in the sector, a structure that had in the Gdansk merchants the organisational and financial brains and operated in a highly regulated market at both national and local levels. The dynamics of grain exports between the late 18th century and First World War will be analysed in order to understand the long-term trend concerning the different types of exported products (especially wheat and rye), dwelling on the reasons for the boom and bust during certain historical periods, especially after the mid-19th century. Of no less importance is an analysis of Danzig’s merchant community, its associational bodies, its international contacts and the educational structures created during the 19th century to strengthen the professional skills and preparation of new generations of merchants in an increasingly competitive market.

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