Venice organized the first capitalistic commerce in human beings

Evidence

Notwithstanding Philip Curtin’s rather casual language in describing the process, we should remember that it was in Venice’s affairs of trade that Oliver Cox situated “the first capitalistically organized commerce in human beings.” Still, at first as we have noted before, the slave trade had been more significant to Venetian commerce than slave labor. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 555

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 555
• XREF: connects to: Slavery was a critical foundation for early capitalism — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 584; Ottoman expansion, sugar cultivation, and Genoese-Iberian alliance made slave labor central to capitalism — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 556; Italian capitalist networks enabled the Portuguese Empire and its slave trade (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Slave labor sustained the extra-European market that industrial capitalism built on #expands (0.78)
• Italian capitalist networks enabled the Portuguese Empire and its slave trade #expands (0.75)