In the nineteenth century, during the transition from sail to steam, port cities were central hubs of imperial colonialism and capitalist economies, embedded in maritime networks linking local and regional economies to globalisation and the international division of labour. They were points of entry for goods and capital and centres where local trade and distribution networks flourished, supplying ships and redistributing cargo. The arrival of ships represented major economic, cultural, and political events, and news of vessels from distant ports was prominent in the local press. The digital processing of these announcements forms the core of this project, offering a unique lens for analysing maritime, economic, and social history. The research focuses on 1850–1910, when the shift from sail to steam transformed shipping, ports, and global trade.
The project studies the ports of Barcelona, Marseilles, Havana, and Buenos Aires, which illustrate diverse maritime profiles: Barcelona, a Spanish metropolis oriented to America; Marseilles, a French metropolis facing east; Havana, a Spanish American colony; and Buenos Aires, a former Spanish colony. Each port played a distinct role in the international division of labour, and comparative analysis allows us to explore differences in connectivity, traffic patterns, and economic integration across regions.
The project has two main objectives: first, to develop a team of digital humanists specialised in computational methods for maritime and economic history; second, to create an open-access database of nineteenth-century trade records for other researchers. The database will cover roughly 1.5 million ship arrivals over six decades, offering unprecedented detail on port traffic, cargo, and the actors involved.
Thematically, it addresses five areas: port traffic, technological change, commerce and business actors, career trajectories, and cultural dimensions. While aggregated statistics on global trade exist, they provide limited insight into regions outside industrial powers, particularly Spanish America. Previous research often focuses on individual flows, leaving broader connections unexplored. Disaggregated port data are essential to understand commercial networks, revealing nodes and connections structuring the global economy. The selected ports were at the peak of their hierarchies during globalisation, and analysing their frequency, intensity, and evolution over time provides insight into trade flows and port development.
This methodology ensures scalability, allowing future inclusion of additional ports and periods, contributing to a richer understanding of nineteenth-century maritime networks. By integrating historical analysis and digital tools, the project offers a transformative perspective on global commerce, producing a dataset and framework to study port cities, trade, and economic integration in unprecedented detail.
