S.S.: Venice notes: Rise of Venice, resummarized

Leadership: diplomatic and enterprising.

· Doge Pietro II Orseolo maintained friendship with other leaderships in Europe.

o Ensures Venice’s Independence and trade, bringing about peace and stability, which in turn allow Venice to generate more income and wealth.

· Doge Enrico Dandolo led a military campaign to capture Constantinople. The success of this campaign marked the beginning of Venice’s growth as a maritime empire.

· Doge Pietro Ziani, the successor to Dandolo, led more conquests to further expand trade and ensure control of important sea routes in the Mediterranean Sea.

Reforms in Gov’t: Responsive, Responsible

· System of Gov’t adapted to meet demands of people and city-state’s growth

o 12^th Cent. : Great Coucil -> better control of Admin matters

o 13^th Cent. : more political structures [Council of 40, Senate] deal with more complex matters due to Venice’s Expansion.

· No one above the law, not even Doge.

o Great Coucil exercises authority by preventing corruption or abuse of power.

o Effective checks on power due to this great sense of responsibility.

Attitude towards trade: Competitive, adventurous.

· Motivated by profits, the Venetians are shrewd traders who can obtain more favourable trading terms than their competitors. This competitive edge brought them great wealth.

· Willing to travel to distant land to search markets and supplies, Venice could secure lucrative and exotic trade items, making them important traders. Wealth created made Venice one of the greatest cities of Europe.

Innovation in Maritime Technology: Galley.

· Extensive knowledge of shipbuilding allowed Venetians to design and build superior vessels able to sail swiftly over long distances.

· Oars and sails propulsion methods allowed their ships to sail where others cannot, hence facilitating in expansion of trade and territorial control.

· Pirates tend to avoid Venetian ships as they were a combo of merchant + war vessels called galleys.

Industrial Development: efficient, enterprising, innovative.

· Arsenal: backbone of Venetian Maritime Empire and power, as all shipbuilding activities are centralised here, improving productivity.

o At peak [15^th Cent.]: ≥2000 craftsmen could produce average 10 galleys a day when called upon.

· Diversifying into other manufacturing industries [e.g.: glassmaking, printing] resulted in growth of a variety of manufactured goods that Venice could sell.

· Venetians started double-entry bookkeeping [enabled businessman to keep track of transactions]

o Improved on their effectiveness in accounting, made Venice a favourite trading centre.

· Giro banking helped facilitate trade as business transactions were done through banking instructions, not cash terms. [Popular with traders]

· All these improved Venice’s reputation, increases its popularity.

Overcoming trade competitions: Tenacious [persistent]

· Main trade competition: Genoa [also dependent on Maritime trade]

o After a series of war, Venice defeated Genoa in late 14^th Cent.

o Venetians can now control Mediterranean Sea, brought them more international trade.