FOUNDATION

MARITIME VENICE

the Tenth Kingdom  -   Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths  -   their origins and migrations  -   early lagoon settlements  -   their economy  -   Byzantines and Longobard  -   the transit trade  -   noble merchants  -   the doge  -   the Frank invasion and the move to Rialto

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE

river trade  -   the turn seaward  -   on the commodoties traded  -   the control of the Adriatic  -   trading concessions: the "Golden Bull" of 1082 and the Pactum Warmundi

A MEDITERRANEAN POWER

ROMANIA AND BEYOND-THE-SEA

the Fourth Crusade  -   the Latin Empire  -   the Republics and Pisa and Genoa  -   the Venetian-Genovese wars

SHIPPING, BANKING, AND FINANCE

the nautical statutes  -   the Arsenal  -   its organization and operation  -   galleys and roundships  -   the nautical revolution: portolan charts and the compass  -   the commercial revolution: joint ventures, double-entry bookkeeping, and bills of exchange  -   convoys and cartels  -   on the role of government

 
A MAINLAND POWER

EXPANSION

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

agriculture  -   real estate  -   government debt  -   tithes

DECLINE AND FALL

THE LOSS OF COMMERCIAL DOMINANCE

the Ottomans and the Eastern Mediterranean  -   Portugal and India  -   Oceanic trade and the New World  -   industrial recession

THE FRENCH, THE AUSTRIANS, AND THE ITALIANS