4 G. G. Hubbard — lite Evolution of Commerce. 



armies of France from Italy to the Holy Land. The Venetians 

 were shrewd merchants and drove hard bargains, stipulating for 

 cessions of land at the best commercial points and adequate com- 

 pensation for their services. After the failure of each Crusade 

 they brought back remnants of the troops and pilgrims, and with 

 them the products of Asia JMinor, and Ijooks and art treasures from 

 Greece. These were distributed all over Italy, and led to the 

 renaissance of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 



The trade with the east brought power and wealth to Venice 

 and Genoa. They founded colonies on the Black sea, in Asia 

 Minor, and on the Asiatic coast. Venice alone had three thou- 

 sand merchant vessels. Their commerce was not confined to 

 the borders of the Mediterranean, for the goods of the Orient 

 Avere distributed by the way of Augsburg and Nuremberg to the 

 interior of Germany and to the towns of the Hanseatic confedera- 

 tion. Thus commerce was opened with the interior of Europe. 

 B}^ the failure of the Crusades the power of the Turks, 

 1450. which had been for the time checked, grew and increased. 

 They conquered the holy places of the earth, Asia Minor 

 and Syria, and finally, crossing into Europe, gained Constanti- 

 nople. The colonies of Venice and Genoa were captured ; their 

 fleets disappeared from the Mediterranean. In western Euroj)e 

 the Spaniards under Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the 

 Moors, Avho for many ages had occupied the larger portion of 

 Spain ; and as the Crescent appeared in eastern Europe, the 

 Cross triumphed in the west. 



Spain and Portug<d. 



Then a new power appeared ujjon the stage. Spain and Por- 

 tugal entered upon an era of exploration and discovery in regions 

 unknown to Venice and Genoa. Commerce, which in the middle 

 ages had been confined to the Mediterranean sea, was now ex- 

 tended to the countries on the Atlantic ocean, and the Cape 

 Verde islands, Madeira, and the Canaries were discovered. In 

 one generation (between 1470 and 1500 A. J).) more and greater 

 discoveries were made than in any other period of the world's 

 history. The Portuguese sailed along the eastern coast of Africa 

 and rounded the cape of Good Hope ; Vasco de Gama crossed 

 the Indian ocean to India ; Columbus sailed westward to find 

 the Orient, and discovered a New World ; Magellan circumnavi- 



