About this map
How Venice, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi built and lost their overseas empires, from Doge Pietro II Orseolo's Dalmatian expedition in 1000 to Napoleon's end of Venice and Genoa in 1797. Colours: crimson = Venice (dark = Dogado & Terraferma, light = vassals & family lordships such as the Duchy of the Archipelago); blue = Genoa (light = family lordships: Zaccaria, Gattilusi, Doria, Lomellini); green = Pisa; gold = Amalfi. Notes: ports and fortresses (Modon, Caffa, Pera, Famagusta…) are drawn as enlarged circles so they stay visible; Venice and Genoa only controlled the town and its immediate hinterland. Trading quarters inside foreign cities (Constantinople, Acre, Tana) are markers. Borders are approximate; dates of contested places are rounded to the nearest keyframe. Sources: Wikipedia articles Stato da Màr, Genoese colonies, Genoese Gazaria, Republic of Pisa, Maona of Chios and Phocaea, Gattilusio, Triarchy of Negroponte, Dalmatia under Venetian rule, Frankokratia; Gullino, 'Le frontiere navali' and Arbel, 'Colonie d'oltremare' in Storia di Venezia (Treccani, 1996); Crowley, City of Fortune (2011); Natural Earth coastlines.
Text version: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/italian-maritime-republics-their-overseas-empires-10001797.md
Timeline
| Date | What the map shows |
|---|---|
| 9 May 1000 | 1000 · Orseolo's fleet sails for Dalmatia |
| 1030 | c.1030 · Dalmatian towns slip from Venice |
| 1 Jun 1073 | 1073 · Normans take Amalfi |
| 1 May 1082 | 1082 · Golden Bull opens Byzantium to Venice |
| 1 Apr 1092 | 1092 · Pope gives Pisa primacy over Corsica |
| 1145 | 1145 · Venice takes Koper, Izola and Pula |
| 1186 | 1186 · Zadar defects to Hungary |
| 1211 | 1211 · Fourth Crusade spoils: Crete and more |
| 1214 | 1214 · Epirus takes Corfu from Venice |
| 1235 | 1235 · Nicaea retakes Gallipoli |
| 1258 | 1258 · Pisan families split south Sardinia |
| 1267 | 1267 · Genoa settles Pera; Caffa founded |
| 6 Aug 1284 | 1284 · Meloria: Genoa crushes Pisa |
| 1308 | 1308 · Golden Horde drives Genoa from Caffa |
| 1313 | 1313 · Genoa rebuilds Caffa |
| 1 Jun 1326 | 1326 · Pisa cedes Sardinia to Aragon |
| 1329 | 1329 · Byzantines retake Chios |
| 1331 | 1331 · Venice tightens its hold on Istria |
| 1339 | 1339 · Treviso: Venice's first mainland city |
| 20 Sep 1346 | 1346 · Genoese Maona seizes Chios and Phocaea |
| 1 Jul 1355 | 1355 · The Gattilusi receive Lesbos |
| 18 Feb 1358 | 1358 · Treaty of Zadar: Dalmatia lost |
| 1365 | 1365 · Genoa takes Soldaia; Gazaria at its peak |
| 21 Oct 1374 | 1374 · Genoa seizes Famagusta |
| 1 Jun 1386 | 1386 · Corfu submits to Venice |
| 1390 | 1390 · Negroponte becomes a Venetian colony |
| 1400 | 1400 · Venetian Albania takes shape |
| 9 Oct 1406 | 1406 · Florence conquers Pisa |
| 9 Jul 1409 | 1409 · Venice buys Dalmatia for 100,000 ducats |
| 1 Jun 1420 | 1420 · Dalmatia and Friuli under St Mark |
| 1425 | 1425 · Venice rules Thessalonica |
| 29 Mar 1430 | 1430 · Ottomans storm Thessalonica |
| 29 May 1453 | 1453 · Constantinople falls; Pera surrenders |
| 1 Jun 1456 | 1456 · Ottomans strip the Gattilusi lordships |
| 15 Sep 1462 | 1462 · Lesbos falls to Mehmed II |
| 2 Jan 1464 | 1464 · Genoa loses Famagusta |
| 12 Jul 1470 | 1470 · Fall of Negroponte |
| 6 Jun 1475 | 1475 · Ottomans take Caffa |
| 25 Jan 1479 | 1479 · Peace of Constantinople |
| 7 Aug 1484 | 1484 · Peace of Bagnolo: Polesine to Venice |
| 26 Feb 1489 | 1489 · Venice annexes Cyprus |
| 20 May 1503 | 1503 · Peace confirms loss of Modon & Coron |
| 2 Oct 1540 | 1540 · Nauplia and Monemvasia surrendered |
| 14 Apr 1566 | 1566 · Ottomans take Chios |
| 1 Aug 1571 | 1571 · Famagusta falls; Cyprus lost |
| 27 Sep 1669 | 1669 · Candia surrenders after 21-year siege |
| 26 Jan 1699 | 1699 · Karlowitz: Venice holds the Morea |
| 1 Sep 1715 | 1715 · Ottomans reconquer the Morea |
| 21 Jul 1718 | 1718 · Passarowitz: Venice's final borders |
| 1742 | 1742 · The Lomellini lose Tabarka |
| 14 Jul 1755 | 1755 · Paoli's Corsican Republic |
| 15 May 1768 | 1768 · Genoa cedes Corsica to France |
| 12 May 1797 | 1797 · Venice's Great Council dissolves |
| 14 Jun 1797 | 1797 · Genoa becomes the Ligurian Republic |
Layers
Venice · Dogado & Terraferma · Genoa · Liguria · Pisa · Tuscan coast & Elba · Amalfi · Amalfi coast · Venetian vassals & lordships · Venice · Istria & Dalmatia · Venice · Albania & Ionian Islands · Venice · Greece & the Aegean · Venice · Negroponte (Euboea) · Venice · Crete (Kingdom of Candia) · Venice · Cyprus · Genoese family lordships · Genoa · Corsica · Genoa · Aegean & Levant · Genoa · Black Sea (Gazaria) · Pisa · Corsica & Sardinia
Events
- 9 May 1000, Orseolo's Dalmatian expedition: On Ascension Day 1000 Doge Pietro II Orseolo sailed down the Adriatic, crushed the Narentine pirates at Lastovo and took the title Duke of Dalmatia. Venice re-enacted the voyage every year as the Marriage of the Sea.
- 1016, Pisa & Genoa free Sardinia: In 1015–1016 the fleets of Pisa and Genoa, allies for the last time, expelled the emir Mujahid of Denia from Sardinia. The two cities spent the next 270 years fighting over the island and Corsica.
- 1 May 1082, Venetian quarter in Constantinople: Alexios I's chrysobull of 1082 gave Venice a waterfront quarter on the Golden Horn and tax-free trade across the Byzantine Empire, in return for naval help against the Normans.
- 13 Apr 1204, Venetian podestà of Constantinople: After the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204, Venice claimed 'a quarter and half a quarter' of the Byzantine Empire and ruled three-eighths of the capital through its podestà until the Byzantines returned in 1261.
- 13 Mar 1261, Treaty of Nymphaeum: In 1261 Michael VIII Palaiologos gave Genoa Venice's old privileges and free access to the Black Sea in return for help against the Latin Empire. It launched Genoa's eastern empire: Pera, Caffa, Chios.
- 6 Aug 1284, Battle of Meloria: On 6 August 1284 the Genoese fleet destroyed Pisa's navy off the Meloria shoals. Pisa never recovered: Corsica went to Genoa and its Sardinian lands later fell to Aragon.
- 20 Sep 1346, Black Death leaves Caffa: During the Mongol siege of Caffa (1346) plague broke out among the besiegers. Genoese galleys fleeing the city carried the Black Death to Sicily, Genoa and Venice in 1347.
- 1 Jun 1378, War of Chioggia: In 1379 a Genoese fleet seized Chioggia at the mouth of the Venetian lagoon. Venice trapped it and forced its surrender in 1380 — the last time Genoa threatened Venice itself. Venice's great overseas expansion followed.
- 29 May 1453, Fall of Constantinople: Mehmed II took Constantinople on 29 May 1453; Genoese Pera surrendered the same day. The Black Sea colonies were now cut off and fell one by one.
- 7 Oct 1571, Battle of Lepanto: Two months after Famagusta fell, the Holy League fleet — half of it Venetian — destroyed the Ottoman navy off Lepanto. It saved Venice's reputation, not Cyprus.
- 1 May 1648, Siege of Candia: The Ottoman siege of Candia (Heraklion) lasted from 1648 to 1669, one of the longest in history. Francesco Morosini finally surrendered the city on 27 September 1669.
- 12 May 1797, Fall of the Most Serene Republic: On 12 May 1797, with Napoleon's army on the lagoon shore, the Great Council voted itself out of existence. The Treaty of Campo Formio (17 October 1797) handed Venice, Istria and Dalmatia to Austria; France took the Ionian Islands.
- 14 Jun 1797, Ligurian Republic: On 14 June 1797 Genoa's oligarchy gave way to the French-backed Ligurian Republic, ending the last of the great maritime republics.