The fourteenth century saw Ragusa, a city-state on the Dalmatian coast, assert its independence and begin to compete with Venice for control of Mediterranean trade. (Library of Congress)
A medieval city on the eastern shore of the Adriatic and a capital of an independent Republic of Ragusa from 1204 to 1808; it is now Dubrovnik in Croatia.
Ragusa’s history bears many parallels to that of early Venice. Its strategic location on the edge of the Balkans on the trade routes from the Levant and Asia Minor to Europe ensured that it became a major center of trade. Unlike Venice, the republic never became a major military power, relying instead on deft and generous diplomacy to maintain its independence.
For most of its existence, Ragusa remained an oligarchy with a population divided into three classes: nobility, citizens, and artisans or plebeians, with most of the power being held by the nobles. A governing body, known as the Grand Council, and an executive body called the Small Council formed its government. The citizens elected a duke for a term of office.
Ragusa became independent of the Byzantine empire following the crusaders’ capture of Constantinople in 1204. In its early period in the thirteenth century, Ragusa remained largely in the shadow of Venice. The latter offered protection to the young republic from the local Slavic princes and the pirates on the Adriatic. In exchange, Ragusa agreed to build no significant war navy of its own and allowed Venice to use its port as a naval base. The two states’ exports were exempt from mutual custom duties. However, the fourteenth century saw Ragusa assert its independence and begin to compete with Venice in the Mediterranean trade.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Republic of Ragusa competed vigorously with Venice in Adriatic and even Mediterranean commerce. The city’s specialty was shipping as well as trade in salt, wax, silver, and other metals mined in its rich Balkan hinterland. To the city’s credit, it prohibited trade in slaves in 1418. Ragusan merchants began to appear as far away as Flanders and England. Threatened by the new competition, the Venetians reacted with hostility, attacking Ragusan shipping and launching raids on its territory.
Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the Turkish conquest of Bosnia in Ragusa’s hinterland by 1465, Ragusa faced a growing Ottoman threat. It deflected the danger by a skillful diplomatic maneuver. Ragusa agreed to become a vassal of the Ottoman sultan in 1526 and pay a tribute-like tax, while retaining de facto independence. Although this step alienated much of Christian Europe, it saved the republic. Lavish gifts to the pope and skillful diplomacy in Italy prevented most Christian princes from attacking Ragusan interests and shipping.
Remaining neutral in the massive confrontation between the Ottoman empire on one hand, and the alliance of Christian princes on the other hand, Ragusa used the situation to its advantage, much as Venice had done several centuries earlier. Using its neutrality, Ragusa helped resuscitate the trade between the Ottoman Levant and Asia Minor and Christian Europe, which was brought to a standstill by the prolonged period of warfare and greatly expanded shipping. Carrying badly needed goods between the two warring sides, Ragusan merchants pocketed huge profiteering gains in the process. During this time, Ragusa also controlled the Adriatic islands of Hvar, Mljet, Brach, Locrum, and Korcula, nearby towns of Mali Ston, Veliki Ston, and Kaftat, and others.
The fourteenth century saw Ragusa, a city-state on the Dalmatian coast, assert its independence and begin to compete with Venice for control of Mediterranean trade. (Library of Congress)
By the sixteenth century, Ragusan influence on Mediterranean trade was far out of proportion to the city’s small size, helped by trading colonies planted throughout the Balkans and linked by a network of roads to Sarajevo and Skopje, the largest market towns in the region. Important salt works on the Pelješac peninsula contributed to the city’s prosperity, being the only major source of salt in the Adriatic that was not controlled by Venice. The Venetians had launched several attacks on the peninsula in an attempt to complete their salt monopoly. To protect the important site, the Ragusans added to the nearby fortifications of the Veliki and Mail Ston by building massive defense walls that stretched across the peninsula’s isthmus for many miles—an impressive feat of fortification engineering.
The catastrophic earthquake on April 6, 1667, killed over 6,000 citizens, including the duke/rector, leveling most public buildings and destroying most of the city’s merchant marine fleet. The republic never fully recovered from this blow. Besieged by Russian and Montenegrin forces in 1806, Ragusa decided to accept a French ultimatum instead, accepting French suzerainty and a French garrison. Napoléon Bonaparte’s Marshal Marmont formally abolished the republic in 1808. Today, it remains an important cargo and passenger port as well as a tourist destination in the Republic of Croatia.
Mikhail S. Zeldovich
See also: Byzantine Empire; Constantinople; Salt; Silver; Venice.
Carter, Francis. Dubrovnik/Ragusa: A Classic City-State. New York: Seminar, 1991.
Stuard, Susan. A State of Deference: Ragusa/Dubrovnik in the Medieval Centuries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Zlatar, Zdenko. Between the Double Eagle and the Crescent. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1992.