Genoese colonies

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The expansion of Genoa in the Mediterranean, according to the Codex Latinus Parisinus (1395)
Trade routes of Venice and Genoa

The Republic of Genoa (958–1797) was one of the maritime republics that began to acquire overseas holdings , especially in the wake of the Crusades . The Genoese colonies were mainly located in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and, in connection with the Iberian overseas expansion, on the Atlantic islands off the West African coast. In return for their indispensable naval and military services during the Crusades, Genoa (as well as Pisa and Venice ) secured privileges and trading quarters in the larger ports of the Levant (sometimes entire villages and small urban territories), which primarily serve the specific economic interests of the Italian merchant capital.

Sardinia

In the high Middle Ages, Sardinia was under the rule of the Moors , who had their power base on the Iberian Peninsula. At the beginning of the 11th century, Genoa joined forces with Pisa against this common enemy off its own coast, in order to drive the Moors off the island on behalf of the Pope in 1016 AD. Until 1022/27 there were attempts at reconquest by the Moorish and up to about 1050 plundering by Moorish pirates. The acquired territory was divided, but soon became a point of contention between the allies. The Pisans first came into possession of the Gallura in the Genoese part of the island through marriage . After all, Genoa only owned the Torres judiciary and part of Arborea , i.e. the north-west of the island. The battle between the noble families of Genoa (especially the Doria , Malaspina and Spinola ) and Pisas (especially the Visconti and the Gherardesca ) came to a disastrous conclusion for Pisa in the naval battle of Meloria in 1284. But Genoa could only enjoy its victory until 1297, when the Pope granted the king of Aragon ( James II ) rule over Sardinia. The area around Alghero , which initially remained a colony of Genoa, was first conquered by Admiral Bernat de Cabrera in 1353 and settled (from 1372) by immigrants from Catalonia , the Balearic Islands and the Kingdom of Valencia .

Corsica

Closer to Genoa was Corsica, which had been a Pisan colony since 1077, but was ruled by Pope Innocent III. after the naval battle of 1284 half of it was transferred to Genoa. A little later, however, it was awarded to Aragon. The Genoese resisted and were finally able to win in 1447, so that the island remained with Genoa until 1768, but from 1453 it was administered by the St. Georgs Bank , which fortified the island ( Torregiana ). Since the uprising of the Corsicans under Pascal Paoli in 1755, the island was virtually independent, so the sale of the claims to Corsica, which were still maintained, to France in 1768 was questionable.

Cyprus

A private company of Genoese merchants and patricians had had trading privileges in Cyprus since Henry I's accession to the throne in 1232 . In 1373 they dispatched a fleet that displaced the Venetian competitors from some positions and made the east of Cyprus the Genoese protectorate. Several attempts by the Cypriot royal family to shake off Genoese rule together with Venice and the Visconti failed. After street fights between the Venetians and Genoese in Famagusta, a squadron under Pietro di Campofregoso occupied Famagusta in 1374 and demanded high reparations and an annual tribute. For almost a century, Cyprus remained a Genoese protectorate. Famagusta was officially ceded to Genoa by King James I. Unlike the Venetians, the Genoese did not have a large navy and could not secure the property of Cyprus on a permanent basis. So they transferred the administration of the Banco di San Giorgio . In 1464 Jacob II succeeded in taking Kyrenia and Famagusta with the help of Egyptian troops and Spanish-Sicilian mercenaries. These companies were financed from Venice in order to finally drive Genoa off the island. With Jacob's marriage to the Venetian Katharina Cornaro , the influence of the Serenissima increased again, so that after the death of Jacob Katharina abdicated and in 1489 Cyprus ceded to her.

Monaco

In 1174 Raimund VI sold. , Count of Toulouse , Monaco to the Republic of Genoa, in 1191 the acquisition of Monaco by the Roman-German Emperor Heinrich VI. approved. In 1297 the Grimaldi family from Genoa succeeded in conquering the city, but in 1301 it fell back to Genoa. In 1331 the Grimaldis were able to assert themselves again with the help of the French king against the mother city, but lost control of the city again in 1357 to the Genoese. These were able to hold Monaco until 1419 before it finally fell back to the Grimaldis, whose descendants rule there to this day.

Black Sea

The Genoese fortifications of Soldaia ( Sudak )

After the division of the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade in 1204, important port cities initially fell to rival Venice, but Genoa then prevailed again through an alliance with the Nikaia empire , which was trying to restore. After the Agreement of Nymphaion in 1261, the Genoese settled mainly on the Crimea peninsula and the Sea of ​​Azov. On the basis of the agreement, they founded further branches around the Black Sea, including in Trebizond , Amastri , Simisso , Vicina in the Danube Delta , Kilia , Caffa , Cetatea Albă , Tana at the mouth of the Don .

The most important and first Genoese colony in the Black Sea region, Pera near Constantinople , held a special position and remained an important and constant base of Genoese trade until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. For the rest of the Black Sea region, Caffa became the main colony in the Crimea. From there, in the course of the fighting with the Mongols of the Golden Horde in 1348, the plague - the Black Death - came to Europe.

In order to connect the widely distributed colonies in the Black Sea region, the Officium Ghazariae (also called “Khazaria” or “Gazaria”) was founded in 1313 . The office was nominally subordinate to the network of trading bases in the Black Sea, which were largely self-administered; it was carried out by a representative of the Genoese for the Romania ( Podestà dei Genovesi di Romania ) based in Pera. He was used for one year at a time. The consuls of the bases with the exception of Caffa were subordinate to him. The Officium Ghazariae, which should also act as a protective organization against attacks by pirates and set quality standards in shipbuilding, was repeatedly hampered by competitive struggles among the Ligurian elites. The actual control of the Black Sea colonies therefore fell to the administration in Caffa by the middle of the 14th century at the latest.

The colonies in the Crimea, from 1365 onwards were added to Caffa, became the province of "Gothia", a coastal strip on the southeast coast of the Crimea from Caffa to the harpsichord. From here trade relations were increasingly promoted in an easterly direction, which reached via the so-called "Mongolian" end of the Silk Road (near Tana am Don) to China . The first Chinese silk appeared on Genoese markets as early as 1257.

The Genoese merchants reached Kiev , Bolgar , Kazan , Abkhazia , Cherkessia in the Caucasus and, in 1315, India via their bases in the Black Sea region . According to reports, the Genoese reached Zeitun in China as early as 1322 and Kulam in India in 1338. Goods from the Mongolian-controlled areas on the Caspian Sea also came to Genoa in the late Middle Ages.

In addition to the prestigious product silk , which always reached the Mediterranean via more southerly routes and was shipped via ports in the Middle East and to Rhodes and Cyprus, it was mainly slaves , grain and various raw materials that were delivered to Genoa from the Black Sea region. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Black Sea region became the main source of the slave trade in the Mediterranean. Other important commercial goods were spices, wax, furs, salt, fish, caviar and nuts, which were also shipped on across the Mediterranean, but some were also brought by land through southeast Europe to the Baltic States.

The Genoese stayed in the Black Sea region until 1475; in that year the last bases fell to the Ottomans .

Bosporus

The Crimea in the 15th century
  • Principality of Theodoro
  • Genoese colonies
  • Khanate of Crimea

    • Crimea

    Sea of ​​Azov

    Eastern Black Sea

    • Lo Vati (today: Batumi in Georgia )
    • Sevastopol (the former Greek colony of Dioskurias; today: Sukhumi )

    Bessarabia

    Asia Minor

    Aegean

    The Aegean islands of Chios (1304-1329 and 1346-1566), Samos (1304-1329 and 1346-1475), Thasos (1354-1457) and Lesbos (1333-1336 and 1355-1462) became Genoese colonies. The Thracian port city of Ainos was subordinate to the Genoese patrician family Gattilusio from 1376-1456 . After the fall of Byzantium, almost all Genoese colonies and settlements in the Aegean and Black Seas were given up by 1475. Chios was not conquered by the Ottomans until 1566. Other places on the Aegean coast that were temporarily controlled by the Genoese are; Focea (today Foça ) (1264–1455), Pitane (today Çandarlı ) and Scala Nova (today Kuşadası ).

    bases

    In 1162, the Genoese established a base on the African coast in Salé, southwest of the Strait of Gibraltar, to which Safi , located further south on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, joined in 1253 . In 1277 they opened the first sea connections from Spain to Flanders and England. From 1251 they enjoyed tax privileges in Seville . Even before the end of the Reconquista in Spain, Genoese merchants had made the trade in olive oil, wine, tuna, leather, soap and mercury in Cádiz , Granada , Lisbon , Málaga and Sanlucar their domain. The conquests of Gran Canaria , Las Palmas and Tenerife were financed by Genoese commercial and credit capital with the active participation of Spanish and Portuguese entrepreneurs, such as B. the cloth manufacturer. In Valencia , Toledo and Cuenca , too , Genoese had a large share in Castilian trade. Among the "alberghi ligures", the Genoese families who have been permanently resident in Andalusia, include Boccanegra , Cataño , Centurión , Espinola , Grimaldo , Pinelo , Rey , Riberol , Sopranis , Zaccaria among others Genoese-Pisan Technology Transfer helps gradually the Iberian monarchies Portugal , Castile-León and Aragón-Catalonia gradually to separate, powerful fleets that break through the Moorish sea barrier from the conquered ports along the Strait of Gibraltar.

    The Banco di San Giorgio, with its large estates mainly in Corsica , was the most stable element in the state during this phase, until the national spirit regained its strength in 1528, when Andrea Doria was able to shake off French domination and restore the old form of government that was medieval colonial times but now ended.

    literature

    • Michel Balard : La Romanie génoise (XIIe-début du XVe siècle) . 2 volumes. Rome / Paris: École Française de Rome, 1978 (Bibliotheque des Écoles Françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 235, ISSN  0257-4101 ; Atti della Societa Ligure di Storia Patria NS 18 = 92).
    • Sergei Pavlovich Karpow : L'Impero di Trebisonda Venezia, Genova e Roma. 1204-1461; rapporti politici, diplomatici e commerciali . Rome: Veltro Ed., 1986.
    • Manfred Pittioni: Genoa. The hidden world power. Vienna: Mandelbaum Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-85476-349-9
    • Ievgen Alexandrovitch Khvalkov: The Colonies of Genoa in the Black Sea Region: Evolution and Transformation . New York / London: Routledge, 2018 (Diss., Florence 2015).

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Manfred Pittioni: Genua The Hidden World Power , pp. 48–49
    2. ↑ a b c Pittioni, pp. 66-69
    3. ↑ Pittioni, pp. 69-73

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