Monaco

International Harbors

Founded in 1215 as a colony of Genoa, Monaco has been ruled by the House of Grimaldi since 1297, when Fran ois Grimaldi, known as "Malizia" seized Monaco's fortress in response to the exile imposed upon the Guelfs.

For seven centuries, the Grimaldi family has presided over the Principality of Monaco, the only exception to this was from 1789 to 1814, when Monaco was under French control.

Designated as a protectorate of Sardinia from 1815 until 1860 by the Congress of Vienna, Monaco's sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861.

Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with a railroad linkup to France and the opening of a casino in Monte-Carlo when the major "trade" of Monte Carlo became the commerce of money exchanging hands through gambling.

December 27, 1865, Watchman and Wesleyan Advertiser, London, Middlesex, United Kingdom

FRANCE ABSORBING MONACO.

The French Government, whether intentionally or not seems to have put itself into a curious little difficulty, which may one day grow up to larger dimensions"

It must be premised, for the benefit of untraveled readers, that on the shores of the Gulf of Genoa, just where France is creeping on into Italy, there lies an antique Principality so small that it might almost be carried off bodily, like The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and deposited in a museum. Monaco is, or rather was, about eight miles long by six broad, with a population of under 7,000.

Monaco from Cap d'Ail, 1865. Edward Lear.

This is much about the Parliamentary area and population of a small English borough, and we doubt whether Mr. Bright would allow it a single representative in his Reform Bill. However, it is independent, has a Constitution, a Government, and a Court of its own, with a Sovereign, the twenty-seventh of his name, if we have an accurate recollection of one of his coins that fell in our way. But the revolutions and vicissitudes that have reduced other Powers have not spared Monaco, and the embarrassments of its Prince have compelled him to cede over to France, for the moderate sum of 160,000, the greater part of his territory and the large majority of his subjects.

The commune of Roquebrune, with 2,000 souls, and the rising town of Mentone, with 3,000, now belong to France, happily for the increasing crowd of visitors. What remains of Monaco, except an ancient name and 2,000 inhabitants, we do not know; but it is independent and is in a condition to make Conventions with its Imperial neighbour. It would appear that the Prince of Monaco has still ports in his dominions, and can enter into maritime negotiations of a most important character. The fact is a pleasant memento of the times when every little band of "nobles" that could establish themselves on a mountain ledge proclaimed themselves a Senate and people, boasted an army and a navy, made treaties with the Emperors of the East or the West, had occasional visits from the Pope, and resisted the Saracens or suffered subjugation.

May Monaco have peace in our time, and may the Prince long enjoy life at Paris on his 5,000 a year. True, it is going rather hard with small States in these days, but Monaco pleads by its very insignificance. It must, indeed, be the model and first parent of that parochial system which has covered this island with ten thousand distinct commonwealths, not always so sensible as to make conventions with their neighbours for their mutual benefit.

Such is Monaco, or what is left of it.

Such is Monaco, or what is left of it. But a change has come over its dream, and the great tide of European visitors pouring down valleys, climbing mountains, sweeping round headlands, and spreading themselves along calm oases and sunny shores, have found out Mentone. Somebody, we forget who, boasts to have made it. So houses and hotels are rapidly rising; vegetables, fish, and wages are extravagantly high; the natives are losing what is called their simplicity; and every visitor expects to find within a ten minutes' walk all that France, England, Italy, and all Europe can supply. The whole of that coast is one paradise, but even paradise in these days would be dull without daily arrivals from less favoured regions. There is commerce at Monaco, and a mercantile interest which happens in this instance to be powerfully reinforced by the clamourous race of visitors. Out of their insatiable wants, no doubt, has arisen a revolution of European importance.

On the 9th of list month there was concluded a convention between the Empire of France and the Principality of Monaco, establishing a Customs' Union and commercial relations of the most open and equal character. The fourth article of this Convention declares that henceforth "French ships shall pay in the ports of the Principality the same duties as those to which they would be subject in French ports; and, reciprocally, Monaco ships shall be treated in the ports of the Empire the same as French ships." How far this goes to establish a complete Customs' Union between the two States is not fully explained in anything that appears; but our neighbours, hopefully or anxiously, are comparing the above passage with the "most favoured nation" clause in our own Commercial Treaty with France. In the 19th Article of that Treaty it is declared that "each of the two high contracting Powers binds itself to make the other Power profit by every favour, every privilege or diminution in the tariffs of duties on the importation of the articles mentioned in the present Treaty, which one of them shall accord to a third Power. They bind themselves, moreover, not to declare, the one towards the other, any prohibition, which is not at the same time applicable to other nations."

There appear to be considerable doubts as to the meaning of this article, and whether it does really compel France to extend to us the privileges now granted to Monaco. The Commercial Treaty was a tariff reform, for even Mr. Cobden himself had not the courage to attempt to rob the marine of France of its monopoly. But a Navigation Code is often only a tariff in disguise, and we presume that in the opinion of our neighbours of the Liberal School the convention just made will practically operate as a redaction of duties between these two Powers. If it be so, we must by all means cultivate the acquaintance of Monaco and place ourselves under its friendly aegis. If, as the military gentlemen say, it is by this road that France is to enter Italy, let us take the same way into France. The breach once made in the citadel all England may rush in, and Monaco, expiring as an Independent Power, may yet live in English history as the destroyer of the French Navigation Laws. Whether that be the result, or whether the difficulty is to be met, in another way, by the absorption of Monaco into the Empire of France, is probably a matter of much indifference to the Emperor himself. Times.

The New York Times, July 20, 1884, New York, New York, U.S.A.

Casino of Monte Carlo, Monaco
Auguste Siegen

Public attention has been forcibly directed for the last few years to the Monte Carlo gambling establishment at Monaco, and to the growing evils which its existence entails. Of late, the feeling of aversion, not to say horror, which it occasions has become so general in every country throughout Europe, both with the governed and the governing bodies, that I cannot but think that its days are numbered. Both Europe and America have become fully awakened to the fact that the gambling house is a blot on modern society, and that its great and yearly increasing prosperity scatters desolation over the earth . . .

It's enormous influence for evil is best understood by a simple explanation which I owe to a professional gambler. As the chances are in favor of the bank . . .

At Monte Carlo often every fourth player is a woman, and such women! Hundreds of the demimonde flock here in Winter from every capital in Europe to allure and entangle well-to-do young men, who are always present in great numbers. Truly they represent the sirens of old, and are infinitely more dangerous . . .

Monaco. 1864. Edward Lear

In every hotel there is a band of gamblers who talk of nothing but rouge and noir, of numbers, of systems of play. These votaries of gambling are not necessarily the young and the inexperienced. They are often middle aged or aged men and women, and noblemen, gentry, Generals, Colonels, barristers, physicians. The demon of gambling has got hold of them. They come from the four corners of the earth, and the ruin that follow bankruptcy, poverty, dishonor, suicide mostly falls upon them at home at New York, Rio Janeiro, Batavia, Calcutta, anywhere. It is said that during the Winter about a suicide a week occurs in and near Monaco. If so, it is only a tithe of what occurs elsewhere through Monte Carlo. For whom is this royalty of 700,00 yearly, this enormous income, raised? Merely to to subsidize a degraded Prince, and to give colossal incomes and fortunes to half a dozen or a dozen persons, who are ashamed of the source form whence their money comes, whom no respectable person would like to acknowledge or receive as friends, and to whom society only owes punishment as inciters to vice.

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1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9