Mistress of the sea.
Encircled by water and reliant upon the sea for trade and revenue, Venice mastered the arts of navigation and shipbuilding. By the 14th century Venice had become mistress of the Mediterranean trade routes.
Venice sits at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea. The Venetian lagoon acted as a defensive moat, making Venice nearly impervious to invasions from the sea, while the treacherous mud and shifting topography of the lagoon were fatal to the land armies of invaders. With a mean depth of 1.5 meters most of the lagoon is navigable only by small, flat-bottomed boats. Several channels up to 30 meters deep allowed large merchant galleys egress to the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas, bringing the riches of Asia to the growing European markets for luxury goods such as spices, silks, and gems. (Venice was also a major slave trader until the Rialto market was closed to the slave trade in 1366.)
Venetian ships routinely traveled to down the Adriatic Sea to ports along the Dalmatian Coast, Greece, Crete, Constantinople, Cyprus, Tripoli, Egypt, and, via the Bosporus, the ports of the Black Sea. By the 13th Century, Venice ruled the Dalmatian coast from Trieste to Greece, as well as Crete and other strategic islands along their routes. A long-standing strategic debate was waged at the highest levels of the Venetian Republic over whether to be content as mistress of the seas or to conquer a land empire they would be hard-pressed to maintain. Although their navy was formidable they lacked a reliable land army and like other mainland powers, were dependent on hired armies.
Aerial views of Venice and the lagoon.
Ottoman map of Venice, 1525.
View of Venice from the Alps to the lagoon, 1493.
Topographical map of Venice and its lagoon from 1557 shows the navigable ship lanes within the lagoon.
Bird’s eye view of Venice, 1636.
The mother of all maps of Venice is Jacopo di Barbari’s 1500 bird’s eye view which is executed in extraordinary detail. See map here to zoom in.
