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: this city had been shut against Christians for six centuries;
but it was now in the possession of the sultan of the Mamalukes, and he was
more favourable to them. Under the sanction of the Pope, the Venetians
entered into a treaty of commerce with the sultans of Egypt; by which they
were permitted to have one consul in Alexandria, and another in Damascus.
Venetian merchants and manufacturers were settled in both these cities. If
we may believe Sir John de Mandeville, their merchants frequently went to
the island of Ormus and the Persian Gulf, and sometimes even to Cambalu.
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