Genoa and the Golden Horde
The aim of the research is to understand in what way the relations between the Genoese and the Golden Horde transformed the history of the Black Sea between the years 1270 and 1475 and made it the «focal point of international trade» during two centuries. The study is based on the Genoese notarial deeds and books of accounts from the Archivio di Stato di Genova. The paper tries first to reconstruct the ups and downs of the relations between the Golden Horde and both western powers, Venice and Genoa in the Black Sea. Through three colonial wars in the 14<sup>th</sup> century between both maritime republics, Genoa tried to get the domination of the trade in the Pontic area, thanks to its colonies of Caffa, the Crimean shore (Soldaïa, Cembalo) and Tana. Before 1368, the “pax mongolica” allowed Genoese merchants to follow the great Silk Road to inner Asia and China and to bring back silk and spices; but, after the settlement of Ming power, which closed the way to China, the western merchants were more interested by the local commodities of the Pontic region, wheat, wax, furs, salt and over all slaves, exported to the West or to Egypt. During two centuries thanks to the meeting of the Tatars with western merchants the Black Sea became the turn-table of the international trade in the Middle Ages.