Venice and Genoa emerged as the two dominant Italian maritime republics in Mediterranean trade during the 13th century, operating fleets of galleys that linked western Europe with Byzantine, Islamic, and Black Sea ports. Both cities established trading colonies and fortified outposts, such as Venetian holdings in the Aegean and Genoese colonies around the Black Sea, to secure access to goods arriving from Asia along overland and sea routes. Their merchants financed voyages through partnership contracts that spread risk among investors, and state-regulated convoys protected valuable cargoes. Rivalry between the two republics occasionally erupted into open warfare over control of trade routes and markets.
Relevance to Trade History
Venetian and Genoese commercial networks and financial innovations made Italy the principal gateway between Asian and Mediterranean goods and European markets for much of the later Middle Ages.
Read the full story in our article Venice, Genoa, and the Rivalry for Mediterranean Trade.
Source: World History Encyclopedia. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.