Lessons from medieval Dubrovnik, the “Hong Kong of the Mediterranean”:
Dubrovnik [was] known historically as Ragusa. The picturesque port city is nicknamed “the pearl of the Adriatic” for its beauty. But the city has also been called “the Hong Kong of the Mediterranean” for its historic embrace of personal and economic freedom and its maritime trade-based prosperity. Not only was the small city-state of the Republic of Ragusa at the forefront of freedom for its time, being one of the earliest countries to ban slavery, but the glittering merchant city on the sea was also the site of an early milestone in the history of public health: quarantine waiting periods, which were first implemented in 1377. In 1390, Dubrovnik also created the world’s first permanent public health office. Perhaps more than any other city, Dubrovnik can claim to have helped create the idea of public health.
More at Human Progress.