GENOA. 



OftOBGLL 



1149 



Langohards, A.P. 841. Charlemagne afterwards took it, and put it 

 with all maritime Liguria under the government of a count After 

 the fall of the Cariovingian dynasty, and during the contecto about 

 the crown of Italy between the German emperor* and the Berengarii 

 and other claimants, the citizen* of Genoa aeixed the opportunity of 

 assertiiis their independence under the government of elective magis- 

 trates atyled consuls. The name* of the consuls began to be recorded 

 from the latter part of the llth century. The Genoese had already 

 rendered themselves formidable by sea. After having suffered from 

 the Saracen*, who about 935 surprised and plundered their town, 

 they applied themselves to strengthen their navy ; and having allied 

 themselves with the Piaana they drove the Saracen* oat of Corsica, 

 Capraja, and Sardinia, between the years 1016 and 1021. From that 

 time dates the dominion of Genoa over Corsica and Capraja, and that 

 of Pisa over Sardinia. The Genoese took part in the great orusade 

 under Godfrey de Bouillon, and obtained settlements on the coast of 

 Palestine, especially at Acre. In 1146 they took Minorca from the 

 Moon, and the next year they took by storm Almeria in the kingdom 

 of Granada, where they made an immense booty. The Genoese fleet 

 on this occasion consisted of 63 galleys and 163 transports, with 12,000 

 land forces. In the year after, having joined the Catalonians, they 

 took Tortosa, which was defended by a Moorish garrison. These 

 conquests excited the jealousy of Pisa and Venice, the two other 

 naval powers of Italy. Pisa, being the nearest, was the first to come 

 to blows with Genoa, Four wars took place between the two states : 

 the first in 1070, which was short; the second in 1118, which was 

 ended in 1182 by the mediation of Pope Innocent II. ; the third in 

 1162, which lasted nearly a century; the fourth in 1282, in which 

 the Pisans were completely defeated by sea near the rocks of Meloria, 

 in sight of their own coast, when 3000 Pisans were killed and 13,000 

 taken prisoners to Genoa, where most of them died in chains. From 

 that blow Pisa never recovered. In 1290 the Genoese under Conrad 

 Doria destroyed Porto Pisano, and filled up the mouth of the harbour. 



The rivalry between Genoa and Venice began to show itself soon 

 after the conquest of Constantinople by the Franks in 1244. The 

 Genoese having assisted Michael Palrcologus to reconquer his capital, 

 obtained from him the suburbs of Pera and Galata, and the port of 

 Smyrna, with full jurisdiction over those places. The Venetians 

 disputed with them the supremacy of the Levant seas, but after 

 several naval fights the two powers concluded a truce in 1271. After 

 the fall of Pisa the Genoese found themselves more at leisure to renew 

 the conflict with Venice. They put to sea with 165 galleys, each 

 carrying from 250 to 800 men, and sailing up the Adriatic defeated 

 the Venetians near the island of Curzola, took or burnt 84 galleys, and 

 made 7000 prisoner*, including the Admiral Dandolo. Peace was 

 made in 1299, by the terms of which the Genoese excluded the 

 Venetians entirely from the trade of the Black Sea, where the Genoese 

 had formed a succession of colonies, forts, and factories all alone the 

 coast, and from which they carried their trade, and introduced Chris- 

 tian customs far into the interior of Asia. War broke out again in 

 1346, when the Genoese defeated the Venetians in sight of Constanti- 

 nople, but were afterwards totally routed on the coast of Sardinia. 

 Genoa, disheartened by this defeat and a prey to internal factions, 

 gave itself up to John Visconti, duke of Milan. In 1372 war broke 

 out again between Genoa and Venice for the possession of Tenedos. 

 Genoa had meantime shaken off the yoke of the Visconti. In thix, 

 the fourth war between Genoa and Venice, the Genoese took Chioggia 

 and besieged Venice. The Venetians were near capitulating, when Vettor 

 Pisani and Carlo Zeno revived their spirit, formed a new fleet, with 

 which they blockaded the Genoese within Chioggia, and obliged them 

 to surrender. This war, called the War of Chioggia, ended in 1381. 



From that time Venice and Genoa remained at peace, with trifling 

 interruptions. Genoa was exhausted by internal factions. To the 

 rule of the consuls had succeeded, about 1190, that of the podesta, 

 who were chosen annually, from among the citizens of another state, 

 in order to avoid the partialities and intrigues resulting from family 

 connections. This lasted with some interruption till 1270, when two 

 citizens, Oberto Spinola and Oberto Dona, distinguished for their 

 services, usurped the supreme power, under the name of ' captains of 

 liberty,' which they retained till 1291. They reconciled the lower 

 classes to their usurpation by appointing a magistrate called Abate 

 del Popolo, a kind of tribune who supported the rights of the people 

 agsinst the nobles. Foreign captains were next appointed, to be 

 cfaoeen from among the natives of places at least 100 miles distant 

 from Genoa. Afterwards a council was instituted, first of 12 and 

 subsequently of 24 members, half nobles and half plebeians. Feuds 

 and fighting often took place within the town between nobles and 

 plebeians, and between Guelphs and Ghibellnea. Both the Doria and 

 the Spinola were Ghibelines, but having quarrelled among themselves 

 they were overcome by the Guelphs, who were headed by the families 

 of Fieschi and Grimaldi, and who exiled their rivals. But the Ghibe- 

 lines of Genoa, unlike those of Florence, were popular ninoni; He 

 lower classes, and they re-entered by force. lYom |:;17 to 1331, and 



again in 1835, these faction* r,,ntmn.-.| to ,1, -oKt,. il U u<i 



to render it, says the chrouid.-r l-'../b. tu, n frightful dwrt In 1 '.::'.> 

 the citizens, weary of discord and disorder, instituted a supreme 

 magistrate, called doge, elected for life, excluding by law all the 

 noble*, both Gutlphs and Ghibelines, from ever filling the office. 



This lasted two centuries, but not without frequent contentions 

 between the principal citizen families, especially the Adorn 

 Fregosi, who proved just as factious and troublesome aa the pair! 

 had been. Several doges were elected at a time, some were exiled, 

 and others were forced upon the community by an armed faction. 

 The neighbours of Genoa, the Visconti of Milan, and the kings of 

 France, taking advantage of these feuds, at various times obtained 

 possession of Genoa. At last, Andrea Doria had the merit of deliver- 

 ing his country from the French yoke; and in order to avoid a 

 recurrence of the former feuds, he changed the institutions of the 

 country, by establishing biennial doges, and councils to asxist and 

 control them. A roll was made out of all the distinguished families, 

 both noble and plebeian, from among whom the doges, councillors, 

 and other officer* of state were to be chosen. This aristocracy how- 

 ever was not wholly closed and exclusive, like that of Venice : new 

 families might be added to it at certain times and with certain qualifi- 

 cations. This form of government lasted from 1528 till Bonaparte's 

 invasion of Italy, when the democratic party, assisted by the French, 

 rose upon the aristocracy, and, after a fearful contest, a democratic 

 government was formed, protected by a strong French garrison within 

 the city. In 1799 the French, under Massena, were besieged within 

 Genoa by the Austrian* and the English, and after a most gallant 

 defence the city capitulated to the Austrians, but was again given up 

 to the French after the battle of Marengo. Bonaparte, then consul, 

 gave a new form of government to Genoa, leaving to it only a nominal 

 independence with the name of republic, but when he became emperor, 

 he compelled the doge and senate to consent to the formal annexa- 

 tion of Genoa to France. In 1814 Genoa, surrendered to the English 

 forces under Lord William Bentinck, and in the following year, by a 

 decision of the Congress of Vienna, it was uuited to the Sardinia!! 

 monarchy. 



Of all her foreign possessions Genoa retained Corsica the longest ; 

 till 1768, when she ceded it to France. Her numerous and wealthy 

 settlements in the Levant and the Black Sea she lost after the 

 Ottoman conquest of the Eastern empire. In the 18th century her 

 navy was reduced to a few galleys, and her flag was insulted with 

 impunity by the Barbary privateers. Since the last peace the spirit 

 of commercial enterprise in her citizens has been greatly revived, and 

 the city has regained a large measure of prosperity. 



(Foglietta, Caflaro, and the other old Genoese chroniclers ; Botta, 

 Sioria <P Italia; Serra, Iiluria dci Ligwri i dei Qenoreti ; Murray, 

 Handbook of Northern Italy.) 



GENTOO8. [HINDUSTAN.] 



GEORGE, ST. [AZORES ; BERMUDA ; GRANADA.] 



GEORGETOWN; [COLUMBIA, Dist. ; DELAWARE ; GUTANA.] 



GEORGIA. This article comprehends not only a description of 

 Georgia Proper, but of all the countries between the Black and the 

 Caspian seas of which Russia either holds or claims possession, and 

 which form dependencies of the government of Georgia, or, as the 

 Russians call it, Grusia. This tract, commonly called Transcaucasia, 

 or the Transcaucasian provinces, extends from 88 40' to 43' 30' 

 N. Int., and from about 86 10' to 50' 12' E. long. It is inclosed on 

 the north by the range of the Caucasus, which forms a part of the 

 country ; on the east it is washed by the Caspian, and on the west by 

 the Black Sea ; on the south it is bounded by Persia and Asiatic 

 Turkey, having a line of frontier on that side of about 600 English 

 miles. Its length from east to west, from the Cape of Abcheran or 

 Apsheron on the Caspian Sea, to Fort Nikolaieff on the Black Sea, is 

 about 460 English miles, but measured diagonally so as to include 

 Abasia, or Abkhasia, it would of course be much greater ; it* breadth 

 from the banks of the Araxes to those of the Terek, is about 350 

 English miles. The area of the Transcaucasian provinces is estimated 

 by the Russian authorities at 66,500 square miles ; the population in 

 1846 at 2,648,000. 



The surface is for the most part mountainous ; the northern portion 

 being almost wholly occupied by the range of the CAUCASUS ; the 

 southern portion chiefly by that of ARARAT. These mountain ranges 

 are described under their respective titles, and to them we refer for a 

 general notice of the physical features of the country, which will be 

 described somewhat more in detail when we spook of the several 

 provinces presently. But the country though generally mountainous 

 contains some extensive plains ; and the scenery is altogether of a very 

 striking character. 



The principal rivers which drain the Caucasian isthmus are the 

 Kur or Koor, the ancient Cyrus; the Araxes; the Rion, or Faz (the 

 ancient Phasis watering the COLCHIS of the ancients) ; the Kooban ; 

 and the Terek, besides numerous smaller riven and streams. Owing 

 to the hilly nature of the country only two of these rivers are 

 navigable, and that only for flat-bottomed vessels the Kur, from its 

 confluence with the Araxes to its outlet into the Caspian Sea, for 

 alioiit 70 English miles ; and the Rion, for about the same distance. 



The present commerce of these countries by the Caspian Sea is 



carried on from the ports of Derbend, Baku, Shamakhi, anil Lenkoran, 



in nnd to AfttniUian. The overland trade is with Russia and 



. as well as with Asiatic Turkey. The commerce by the Black 



Sea is carried on from the mouth of the Rion with Odessa and other 



Russian ports, as well as with Constantinople ; and there is a small 



traffic with the highlanders of the Caucasus. The coast of the Black 



