Genoa

   Port-city in northwestern Italy that came into Byzantine hands around 540 when Justinian I conquered Italy (qq.v.). It fell into the hands of the Lombards (q.v.) a century later, but by the 10th century, it became a free commune, and its maritime power increased steadily. In the 11th century, aided by Pisa (q.v.), the Genoese drove the Arabs from Corsica and Sardinia (qq.v.). The Crusades (q.v.) made Genoa wealthy, and rivalry with Venice (q.v.) and Pisa for access to the lucrative Byzantine markets ensued. In 1155 Genoa was granted a market area and port facilities in Constantinople (q.v.). The Venetians triumphed in 1204, when the Fourth Crusade (q.v.) captured Constantinople, but the Treaty of Nymphaion (q.v.) in 1261 tied Michael VIII Palaiologos (q.v.) to Genoa in a permanent alliance. Within a month of the signing of the treaty Constantinople was recaptured, and Genoa's commercial position was preeminent. Genoa's defeat of Pisa in 1284 was a turning point; now she had no serious rivals. Her colonies grew in number, and most impressive were the northern ones in the Black Sea (q.v.), including Vinina and Chilia (q.v.), Kaffa and Sougdaia in the Crimea, and Trebizond (qq.v.). The alum mines at Phokaia (q.v.) were ceded to the Zaccaria (q.v.) family, who also gained Chios (q.v.) in 1304. By the mid-14th century the Genoese colony at Galata (q.v.) had become a kind of state within a state, levying duties on all shipping to the Black Sea, with a virtual trade monopoly in the Bosporos (q.v.), and in much of the northern Aegean (q.v.). However, a series of wars with Venice from 1292-1382, including a war over Tenedos (q.v.), weakened Genoese commercial hegemony, making Genoa vulnerable to the Ottomans (q.v.) in the 15th century.