450 THE PROGRESS OF MARITIME DISCOVERY. 



the lagunes fits out a small fleet to purge the Adriatic of Istrian 

 pirates. By a prudent course of policy she renders herself indis- 

 pensable to the Byzantine court, and acquires great privileges in 

 Constantinople. It is here she purchases the costly productions 

 of the East, with which during the ninth and tenth centuries, 

 she provides Northern Italy and a great part of Germany. About 

 the beginning of the eleventh century her trade with Egypt and 

 Syria begins to flourish, and soon raises her to the pinnacle of 

 her power and wealth. In the year 1080 she extends her rule 

 over Croatia and Dalmatia, and gains in 1204 considerable ad- 

 vantages by assisting the western crusaders in the conquest of 

 Constantinople. Pera, numerous coast towns from the Helles- 

 pont to the Ionian Sea, a great part of the Morea, Corfu, and 

 Candia fall to the winged lion's share, and requite the services 

 of " blind old Dandolo." The silk manufacture is transported, 

 as a valuable fruit of conquest, from the Morea to Venice, and 

 becomes a new source of wealth to the Adriatic Tyre. The 

 Euxine opens her ports to the Venetian seamen, treaties of 

 commerce are concluded with Trebizond and Armenia, and a 

 factory is established at Tana, at the mouth of the Don. 



While thus the power of Venice rises more and more in the 

 East, Genoa, which already in the tenth century carried on a 

 flourishing trade, acquires by degrees the supremacy in the 

 Western Mediterranean. The aid afforded by the republic to 

 the Greek emperor Michael Palasologus contributes largely to the 

 overthrow of the Latin throne of Constantinople, and opens the 

 Bosphorus and the Black Sea to the enterprise of her merchants. 

 The grandeur of Genoa now reaches its height ; she holds forti- 

 fied possession of Pera and Galata, and covers the coasts of the 

 Crimea with her strong-holds and castles. 



At a later period the Florentines appear on the scene, and 

 assume the rank formerly held by Pisa in Mediterranean com- 

 merce. The acquisition of the sea-port of Leghorn (1421) opens 

 the barriers of the ocean to the birthplace of Dante and 

 Galileo. 



After their deliverance from the Moorish yoke in the ninth 

 century, a fresh and vigorous spirit begins also to animate the 

 Catalans. They conclude treaties of commerce with Genoa and 

 Pisa, and towards the end of the thirteenth century the ships of 

 Barcelona are found visiting all the ports of the Mediterranean. 



