The Maritime Republic of Genoa

Genoa secured naval hegemony throughout the Mediterranean becoming a maritime republic , in conflict with Pisa and Venice and, from the 12th century, it also expanded inland both to eliminate maritime competitors and to procure wood from the Apennine forests for its shipyards. naval as well as control over the northern crossings.

Despite the importance and immensity of the Genoese empire, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, the political life of the city was always the scene of clashes between rich and powerful families, a factor that led to the appointment of various figures of super power and control. partes: first, there was the mayor (1191), then the captain of the people (1257) and in the fourteenth century, the doge.

However, the attempts to exclude noble families from power were to no avail and this gradually led to the decline of the city, as was the case in the East, where the Ottoman Turks weakened its colonial and naval conquests.