Genoa (Genova, ancient Genua) city (and Province) (regional capital), history - - Pictures
Genoa's history goes far back into ancient times. A city cemetery, dating from the 4th century BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbor probably was in use much earlier. Destroyed by the Carthaginians in 209 BC, the town was rebuilt by the Romans, who used it as a base during their wars with the Ligurians. Under the Romans, the city enjoyed municipal rights and exported skins, wood, and honey.
Little is known of Genoese history from the fall of the Roman Empire (476) until the 11th century, by which time the city had become a maritime republic governed by consuls. Genoa then contributed ships to the campaign against Saracen corsairs in Italian waters. The Genoese, in alliance with Pisa, eventually drove the Saracens from settlements on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, which thereafter became prizes in a long naval war between the two city-states. In the 12th century the Genoese extended their mastery over the adjacent coast and nearby mountain valleys and laid the foundations of future naval greatness and prosperity. Genoese ships transported Crusaders to the Middle East and returned laden with booty. Genoese merchants, profiting from the newly awakened European demand for goods from the Middle East, were to be found in all the principal centers of trade. Genoese forts and trading posts spread through the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and eventually into the Black Sea. Their trade, facilitated by friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire, brought Genoa and Venice into increasing rivalry, which broke into open warfare in the mid-13th century, just as Genoese power reached its height. At the Battle of Meloria (1284), Genoa crushed Pisa, the power of which thereafter declined; the Venetians were defeated at Curzola in 1299. The oligarchy of prosperous merchants and bankers that had ruled the Genoese Republic after 1257 subsequently dealt on equal terms with the courts of popes and kings. Genoese expansion, in fact, had been largely the work of citizens whose primary concern was the advancement of their private interests. As a result, the city was torn between factions contending for control of the government. The rival groups did not hesitate to call in outside powers to aid them. Even the dogeship, the institution of first magistrate, established in 1339, was unable to master the ensuing disorders. Although the struggle sapped Genoese strength, and despite continued bitter rivalry with Venice, the Genoese largely held their own for several decades. In 1380, however, their fleet fell into Venetian hands at Chioggia, a blow from which their naval power never recovered. Venice drew far ahead, and Genoese overseas possessions were lost one by one, although the last, Corsica, was held until 1768, when it was ceded to France. Internal strife finally ended under the rigid dogeship that Andrea Doria had established with the help of the Holy Roman emperor in 1528, and Genoa prospered as a shipbuilding port and banking center. Although powerful neighbors, France and Piedmont, dominated the city, Genoese independence was respected until 1797, when Napoleon Bonaparte abolished the dogeship and incorporated Genoa into the newly organized Ligurian Republic, which in turn was absorbed by the French Empire in 1805. The city was annexed by the kingdom of Sardinia in 1815. In the last quarter of the 19th century the port of Genoa was widened and modernized, and the city attracted a variety of industries that process imported raw materials and goods for export. During World War II repeated bombings heavily damaged the industrial sections and harbor of the city. Population (2000 estimate) 636,000.
