EXCHANGE AND SOCIAL-STRATIFICATION IN THE EASTERN ADRIATIC - A GRAPH-THEORETIC MODEL

Sharply marked social differentiation is a salient characteristic of Mediterranean societies. Nobody has studied in a systematic fashion the relationship between trade networks, as the most prominent aspect of Mediterranean communication, and the process of social stratification. On the island of Hvar, off the Croation coast in the Adriatic Sea, distinct social hierarchies emerged and surpassed in its elaboration the majority of other ports in the province of Dalmatia. This social differentiation on the island is not limited to the town of Hvar, but appears clearly in the rural areas as well. Its locational advantage in the eastern Adriatic communication network is the decisive factor. To demonstrate Hvar's locational advantage, this paper uses the graph-theoretic models of betweenness centrality and neighborhood. Among all eastern Adriatic ports Hvar played an exceptional role as one of the most frequented places. Through an application of graph-theoretic models, the paper demonstrates here that the combination of locational advantage and an excellent harbor enabled Hvar to maintain the most important position in the Dalmatian archipelago during the entire period of Venetian reign (15th-18th century) -from Author