A maona ( ar, معونة ''ma‘ūnah''; ; ar, معاونة ''mu‘āwanah''; ) also as mahona (pl. mahone) or societas comperarum was a medieval

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

association of

investors An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

formed to manage the purchased shares (''loca'' or ''partes'') of the revenue due to the relevant city-state through tax farming. The shares were individually sold to wealthy merchants who would band together to make collection easier.

Characteristics

These organizations were usually temporary, and could sometimes be extremely aggressive in extracting the monies due them, engaging in activities up to and including outright conquest. The origins of the concept can be traced back to trade financing in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. The linguistic roots of the Arabic word ''maona'' (معونة) can be best translated as 'help' or 'helping each other'. The maonas were the first examples of shareholding companies in the Western world and were used by the Genoese to enlarge their dominions in the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

in the 14th century. Maona were especially common in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

and the territories of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the La ...

Maona of Chios and Phocaea

The most notable maona was the one administering the island of Chios in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

and the nearby port of

Phocaea Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, in ...

, formed in 1346. It was sold to the

Giustiniani The House of Giustiniani is the name of a prominent Italian family which originally belonged to Venice, but also established itself in Genoa, and at various times had representatives in Naples, Corsica and in the islands of the Archipelago, where t ...

family of settlers on Chios, who then ruled the island until the Ottoman conquest in 1566. The model proved successful, and in 1373 the Genoese also founded the Maona Vecchia di Cipro in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

"Origins of the Joint-Stock Company""Genoeses - Maona"
Financial services organizations Medieval organizations Medieval Italy Medieval economics History of the Republic of Genoa