Discuss how the provinces affected the general Roman economy
Roman provinces were administrative as territorial units of the Roman Empire, and were source of revenue throughout Italy and then the rest of Europe as the empire expanded (Gill, 2017). Having few officials to administer these territories, allowed provinces to carry a certain form of autonomy. Meaning that the Roman provinces were considered to be self-supporting, only having to provide Rome the fiscal treasury with taxes and to supplying staple goods. (Wilson, 1994).
During the Roman Empire from 27 BC on, provinces were divided into two classes: “senatorial provinces were governed by former consuls and former praetors, both called proconsuls, whose term was annual; imperial provinces were governed by representatives of the emperor” (Britannica, 2018). Within the context of provinces, there were Roman and Italian businessmen that settled in overseas
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In the imperial period, the State was in charge of trading proceedings. There was a specific official in responsible of the grain supply and in regulating the various shipowner associations, therefore the movement goods between provinces were taxed by state. Trading good involved “food such as olives, fish, meat, cereals, salt, and prepared foods such as fish sauce, olive oil, wine and beer, animal products like leather and hides, objects made from wood, glass, or metals, textiles, pottery, and materials for manufacturing and construction such as glass, marble, wood, wool, bricks, gold, silver, copper, and tin. Finally, there was, of course, also the substantial trade in slaves” (Cartwright, 2018, which in fact come from these conquered