Maritime republics

(noun)

City-states that flourished in Italy and across the Mediterranean. From the 10th to the 13th centuries, they built fleets of ships both for their own protection and to support extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean, giving them an essential role in the Crusades.

Related Terms

Examples of Maritime republics in the following topics:

  • Mediterranean Trade and European Expansion

    • Most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime Republics.
    • Maritime Republics of Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, Pisa, and the Republic of Ragusa developed their own empires on the Mediterranean shores.
    • Muslim traders, mainly descendants of Arab sailors from Yemen and Oman, dominated maritime routes throughout the Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the Far East and shipping for trading emporiums in India—mainly Kozhikode, westward to Ormus in the Persian Gulf and Jeddah in the Red Sea.

  • Europe's Early Trade Links

    • The Red Sea was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics, the Republic of Venice especially, fostered collection of accurate maritime knowledge.
    • The fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Maritime Southeast Asia and Thailand.
    • But the journeys, reported by Ma Huan, a Muslim voyager and translator, were halted abruptly after the emperor's death and were not followed up, as the Chinese Ming Dynasty retreated in the haijin, a policy of isolationism, having limited maritime trade.
    • Most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime republics.

  • Madison and the Pressure for War

    • War hawks in both the South and the West also anticipated an easy opportunity for increasing the size of the new republic in the event of war: They hoped for the incorporation of British North America (present-day Canada) into the republic.
    • Opposition to war came from Federalists, especially those in the Northeast, who knew conflict would disrupt the maritime trade on which they depended.

  • The Birth of Political Parties

    • During the early years of the U.S. government, the new republic saw the firm and unexpected establishment of a two-party political system.
    • It was nearly universally believed that the new republic ought to be free from "factions."
    • However, the stresses the new government faced soon exposed different ideas about the direction of the new federal republic.
    • Federalism was concentrated in the bustling maritime towns and cities of New England and in the plantation districts of the Chesapeake Bay and South Carolina.
    • Differentiate between factional splits and political parties in the early republic

  • The Second French Republic

  • The Weimar Republic

  • The Libyan Arab Republic

  • The United Arab Republic

  • The Republic of China

  • Chairman Mao and the People's Republic