Brief
History
Early historical
information on Venice dates back to the fifth and sixth centuries when,
to escape the Barbarian invasions, refugees from the Venetian countryside
took shelter in the Lagoon. At first, they were ruled by Maritime Tribunes
then by the Doges (the first was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, in 697), gradually
eluding Byzantine influence, partly as a result of the initiative of
the inhabitants, who transformed it into an important trading centre
for shipping in the Mediterranean and towards the Orient. Its importance
increased during the Crusades, when it extended its rule over the Aegean
islands, Peleponesia, Crete and part of Constantinople. Rivalry with
Genoa and the other Italian maritime republics served only to increase
its strength which reached its apogee in the fifteenth century.
In the same period,
Venice increased its territories on the Venetian mainland, occupying
Treviso, Padua, Vicenza and later Verona, Feltre, Belluno and Bassano
(1404-1405), until in 1454, its boundaries stretched to the Adda river
to the west, and into Friuli to the east. The fall of Constantinople,
however, and the discovery of America, marked the beginning of commercial
and political decline for the Republic of Venice, culminating in the
loss of independence ratified by the Treaty of Campoformio (1797), which
gave Venice to Austria. After the Napoleonic period (1805-14) and the
heroic events of the Risorgimento (1848 uprising against the Austrians
under the leadership of Daniele Manin) it was finally reunited with
the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, following the Third War of Independence. |
