In Order To Carry On
This New Branch Of Traffic, They Had Agents And Correspondents In Different
Cities Of Europe; And Thus The Remittance Of Money By Bills Of Exchange Was
Chiefly Conducted By Them.
Other Italian states followed their example; and
a new branch of commerce, and consequently a new source of wealth, was thus
struck out.
In the year 1261, the Greek emperor regained Constantinople through the
assistance of the Genoese; and the latter, as usual, were amply repaid for
their services on this occasion. Pera, the chief suburb of Constantinople,
was allotted to them: here they had their own laws, administered by their
own magistrates; and they were exempted from the accustomed duties on goods
imported and exported. These privileges raised their commerce in this part
of the world above that of the Venetians and Pisans; who, however, were
still permitted to retain their factories. The Genoese soon began to aim at
more extensive power and trade; and under the pretext that the Venetians
were going to attack their new settlement, they obtained permission to
surround it, and their factories in the neighbouring coasts, with
fortifications. The trade of the Black Sea was under the dominion of the
Greek emperor, who, by the possession of Constantinople, commanded its
narrow entrance: even the sultan of Egypt solicited liberty to send a
vessel annually to purchase slaves in Circassia and Lesser Tartary. The
Genoese eagerly looked to participating in the valuable commerce of this
sea; and this object they soon obtained. In return they supplied the Greeks
with fish and corn. "The waters of the Don, the Oxus, the Caspian, and the
Wolga, opened a rare and laborious passage for the gems and spices of
India; and after three months march, the caravans of Carizme met the
Italian vessels in the harbours of the Crimea." These various branches of
trade were monopolized by the diligence and power of the Genoese; and their
rivals of Venice and Pisa were forcibly expelled. The Greek emperor,
alarmed at their power and encroachments, was at length engaged in a
maritime war with them; but though he was assisted by the Venetians, the
Genoese were victorious.
The Venetians, who were thus driven from a most lucrative commerce,
endeavoured to compensate for their loss by extending their power and
commerce in other quarters: they claimed and received a toll on all vessels
navigating the Adriatic, especially from those sailing between the
south-point of Istria and Venice. But their commerce and power on the
Adriatic could be of little avail, unless they regained at least a portion
of that traffic in Indian merchandize, which at this period formed the
grand source of wealth. Constantinople, and consequently the Black Sea, was
shut up from them: on the latter the Genoese were extending their traffic;
they had seized on Caffa from the Tartars, and made it the principal
station of their commerce. The Venetians in this emergency looked towards
the ancient route to India, or rather the ancient depot for Indian goods, -
Alexandria:
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