Maritime republics

Maritime Republics is the collective name for a number of city-states that had its heyday in the Middle Ages in Italy and Dalmatia, and played a role as a naval power ( thalassocracy ) of the Mediterranean.

In general, we mean by the Maritime Republics, the four largest: the Amalfi Republic, the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Venice. The flags of the four Maritime Republics appear both in the flag of the Italian Navy and the Merchant Navy since 1946. There were also a number of smaller maritime republics, but never reached the economic and political importance of the four major. These included, inter alia, the Republics of Ancona, Gaeta, Noli and the Republic of Ragusa in Dalmatia

From the 10th to the 13th century, these countries built fleets that served the one hand, their own protection, on the other hand, a prominent role in Mediterranean trade, and played as a transport fleet during the Crusades. The Maritime Republics were competing with each other, closed or changing coalitions led wars against each other.

The Maritime Republics were usually city-states, they were independent of the then dominant in Europe powers. The majority of them emerged from the Byzantine Empire, with the exception of Genoa and Pisa. Most of the republics held a number of overseas bases in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea, especially in Sardinia, Corsica, the Middle East and North Africa.