Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/559



The stern, selfish policy of the Venetian republic and its conflicting measures of protection and of freedom are to this day marvels of success. During many centuries a small isolated community held their own amid the revolutions of surrounding nations, and maintained their high position till the discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope gave the first serious blow to their commercial supremacy. Venice, however, in her rise and progress had some powerful competitors, and, of these, the Genoese were the most conspicuous.

Situated on the western, or opposite shore of Italy to Venice, the Genoese had long beheld with envy the superior wealth and power of Venice, and had resolved, if possible, to acquire such strength as would enable them to compete at sea with the Venetians whenever a favourable opportunity might arise for the trial of their strength. Hence, Genoa was early alive to the importance of securing a fleet which would be at least sufficient to protect her own distant trade. Indeed, before Venice rose to great power, Genoa had had commercial establishments in the Levant, with factories along the coasts of Asia and Africa, requiring from their great importance a protecting fleet. Cruisers, under Venetian colours, too frequently molested her traders with those settlements. But the Genoese had also their marauders; and, strange to say, the hostilities between the rival republics commenced with the capture of a celebrated Genoese pirate who had for a considerable space of time infested the Mediterranean. The attack and defeat of the first regular fleet of the Genoese quickly followed, and the island of Candia (Crete)