The early inhabitants of Venice got their living from the
sale of sea salt and fish, two commodities for which a constant demand existed
in the Middle Ages. Large quantities of salt were needed for preserving meat in
the winter months, while fish was eaten by all Christians on the numerous fast
days and in Lent. The Venetians exchanged these commodities for the productions
of the mainland and so built up a thriving trade. From fishermen they became
merchants, with commercial relations which gradually extended to the Orient.
The crusades vastly increased the wealth of Venice, for she provided the ships
in which troops and supplies went to the Holy Land and she secured the largest
share of the new eastern trade. Venice became the great emporium of the
Mediterranean. As a commercial center the city was the successor of ancient
Tyre, Carthage, Athens, and Alexandria.
VENETIAN POSSESSIONS
Venice also used the crusading movement for her political
advantage. The capture of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade extended
Venetian control over the Peloponnesus, [25] Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus, and many
smaller islands in the eastern Mediterranean. Even before this time Venice had
begun to gain possessions upon the Italian mainland and along the Adriatic
coast. At the height of her power about 1400 A.D. she ruled a real empire.
