The Concession of Free Port to Mesina in 1694

Abstract

The new economic projects that emerged in the cabinets of Carlos II, along with the design of a policy of rapprochement with local elites and oligarchies, rushed into a new vision of what would be a new horizon in the Mediterranean: the creation of a free port in Messina. This should please the elites, boost a new economic development across the Mediterranean Hispanic and compete with enemy powers.