THE MEDITERRANEAN IN THE AGE OF JAMES II OF ARAGONthe same period. Peaceful trade became the prime objective
of the Majorcan monarchy, which drew a handsome income
from the taxes levied on ships calling in at Majorca City.
In the early fourteenth century the crown could expect to
receive at least £20,000 per annum in taxes on the economic
activities being conducted in the Balearic islands. The founda-
tion of Majorcan consulates in north Mrica, in the teeth of
strong Catalan opposition, further enhanced the revenues
of the crown, with profits from the Majorcan warehouses at
Bougie, Tlemcen, Bone, Algiers and several other key towns
in the Maghrib.:l^4
Particularly important in the long term was the devel-
opment of trading links between Majorca and the Atlantic
Ocean, which offered facilities to Italians and others trying
to reach either the Atlantic coast of Morocco, where Anfa
(now Casablanca) was a favourite base, or, much further
afield, the ports of England and Flanders. The first hard
evidence for Majorcan shipping in England dates from 1281;
the presence of Majorcans alongside Genoese, exporting raw
wool out of England, is impressive testimony to the naviga-
tional skills of the Catalans, but also to their diplomatic skill,
since sailing out of the Straits of Gibraltar was impossible
unless reasonably good relations were cultivated with the
Muslim and Christian powers in the neighbourhood.
Catalan navigators learned by the late thirteenth century
how to keep the sea lanes to Majorca open in all weathers;
by the early fourteenth century hardly a day passed, even
in mid-winter, on which a vessel failed to come into port in
Majorca City. Some were from no further away than the lesser
Balearic islands, others from Venice (great galleys bound for
Flanders), the Basque country or the Cantabrian ports in
northern Spain; and most were from Catalonia and Valencia.
Majorca became famous in the early fourteenth century, and
for long thereafter, as a centre for cartography; some of its
leading mapmakers were Jews, who may have drawn on the
technical knowledge available in the Islamic world. Portrayed
on their maps were newly discovered Atlantic islands, in the
- Abulafia, Mediterranean Emporium, pp. 160-1; Riera Melis, La Corona
de Aragon y el reino de Mallorca, pp. 301-2 [for the key documents];
C.-E. Dufourcq, L 'espagne catalane l'l le Maghrib aux Xllle et XIVe siecles
(Paris, 1966), pp. 419-22.