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Venice

Mayor

Luigi Brugnaro

Biography

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At first Venice was controlled by the Byzantine Empire. However in 726 the Venetians partly gained their independence and elected Orso Ipato as doge (their word for duke).

In 810 the Franks tried but failed to conquer the Venetians. Meanwhile Venice flourished as a trading center and ships sailed to and from its ports. Its population grew steadily. In 828 the body of St Mark was smuggled from Egypt to Venice. St Mark then became the patron saint of the city.

In the Middle Ages Venice continued to flourish as a port and trading center. Meanwhile in 1199 a fourth crusade was proposed. The Venetians agreed to build a fleet of ships to ferry the Crusaders. However when the Crusader army assembled they were unable to pay for the ships. So the Venetians persuaded them to join an expedition to raid Constantinople.

Venetians and Crusaders captured the city in 1204 and they looted it. Venice was also involved in other wars at that time. The Italian city of Genoa was a powerful rival to Venice and during the 13th and 14th centuries the Genoese and Venetians fought 5 wars.

Furthermore in 1348 the Black Death devastated the population of Venice. Therefore in 1403 Venice introduced quarantine. Ships arriving from infected areas had to stop at an island called Lazaretto and the passengers had to wait for 40 days before they were permitted to enter the city.

In the 15th century Venice faced a new threat - the Turks. In 1453 they captured Constantinople and afterwards they advanced into Southeast Europe. In 1489 Venice came to rule Cyprus. However in 1571 the Turks conquered the island.

Furthermore in 1508 several European countries formed the League of Cambrai and went to war against Venice. However after 8 years of war the map was largely unchanged.

During the 17th century Venice gradually lost power and influence. In the 18th century Venice was politically unimportant although the arts such as opera flourished. Then in 1797 Napoleon dissolved the Republic of Venice. However after his fall in 1815 Venice was handed to Austria.

The railway reached Venice in 1846. However Venice did not prosper under Austrian rule. In 1848 revolutions swept Europe and Venice rose in rebellion against the Austrians. For a short period Daniele Manin became president of an independent Venice.

However Austrian forces bombarded the city and Venice was forced to surrender in August 1849. Yet in 1866 the Austrians were defeated by the Prussians and Venice was allowed to join the new nation of Italy.

In the late 19th century Venice flourished as a port and a manufacturing center. Then in 1933 Mussolini built a road from the mainland to Venice. During the Second World War Venice was undamaged by fighting but the Jewish population was deported. In 1966 Venice suffered a severe flood but the city soon recovered.

Source: localhistories.com

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