Obsolete Pasts? Globalization as an Analytical Prism in Vincenzo Formaleoni’s History of the Black Sea (1788–89)

It is not a surprise that, in times when beliefs about the cost-free benefits of infinite economic growth are urgently discussed, we find ourselves tempted to look back at the times when it emerged as a desirable future for the planet. This essay proposes an analysis of the Storia filosofica e politica della navigazione, del commercio e delle colonie degli antichi nel Mar Nero (Venice, 2 vols., 1788–89) written by Venetian polygrapher Vincenzo Formaleoni, who, urging the Venetians to regain their glorious trade in the Black Sea, revisited several centuries of ancient history. Building on Formaleoni’s reflection, I show that the increasingly global extension of commercial exchanges experienced in the 18th century reshaped contemporary ways to narrate the past, comprehend the present and conceive the future, a future which increasingly appeared as inescapably global. I argue that, beyond different economic doctrines, 18th-century historical narratives produced a vision where the history of humankind was essentially appreciated through an economic gaze – a sense of history that still prevails today.