Italy: A ship being constructed in the shipyards of Venice in the 1300s.

The Italian cities of Venice and Genoa dominated trade with the East in the 1300s though they were often at war with each other. Situated on the Adriatic Sea, Venice traded regularly with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim world extensively.

By the late 13th century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. At the peak of its power and wealth, it had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce. During this time, Venice's leading families vied with each other to build the grandest palaces and support the work of the greatest and most talented artists. Venice's decline was swift though—in between plagues of the Black Death in 1348 and 1575 that devastated the population, Venice was defeated by the Ottoman Turks and lost influence in Constantinople by the 1450s.

After Columbus discovered the New World, new trade routes were established to the East via the Americas, and Venice's monopoly of trade routes via the Arabian Sea was promptly ignored by other European powers.

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Pictures From History