Years of Prosperity and Expansion, 1645 – 1667
The Genoese Republic was by now surely experiencing the birth of its Golden Age. Following on from the clearance of English and Dutch territorial claims in the New World, the Genoese were free to expand their own holdings almost at will. Powhatan became a colony in 1645, as did Santee in 1666, and the city of New Sardinia was inaugurated in Delaware in 1659. Trade posts were established in Savannah (1655), Alabama (1657), Tuscaloosa (1658) and Sebago (1660). Industrial development also increased in the New World, with a shipyard in Connecticut and goods manufactories in Chesapeake, Roanoke, Catawba, Powhatan and Delaware. The icing on the cake came with the development of Powhatan as a regional Centre of Trade in 1664.
Almost as impressive were Genoa’s efforts in the Far East, with the founding of a colony in Tindore and trade posts in Cambodia, Khmer, Mahe, Santal, Selatan and Viti Levu.
Politically, Europe and the Middle East underwent great changes during this period. In 1643 Saxony had fought a war of independence from Hessen, who had annexed their recalcitrant neighbour only two years previously. This was brought to an end in 1646, only for Hessen to in turn be annexed in a diplomatic move by the Netherlands, thus doubling the bloc of resistance to French expansion in the lowlands. The Turk annexed his Crimean neighbours in 1645 and then the whole of Christendom was deeply shocked when the treacherous central German state of Thuringen threw in their lot with the aggressor and entered the Turkish alliance in 1647.
The Crimean was of independence in 1647 provided only temporary cause for celebration as the wayward province was quickly re-absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. Moldovia very sensibly joined themselves to the Polish nation state in 1648 to avoid conquest by the Turk. The Netherlands expanded again, absorbing their Palatinat allies in 1653. Then in 1656 came the event that all of Europe had held its breath and hoped for - as mighty Poland took on the Turkish menace. Wallachia, a vassal of Turkey, was swiftly seized and annexed by Poland and then in 1658 peace was settled, with Turkey ceding the province of Crimea to the Poles as well.
Domestically, Genoa enjoyed a period of great and welcome stability, characterized by the development still further of the walls surrounding and protecting the city in 1647 and the successful campaign to persuade Portugal to join the anti-Spanish alliance in 1659.
The English-Irish Wars of 1667-68 and 1674-75 and the War of Iroquois Subjugation, 1675-1677
The decade 1667 – 1677 was dominated by three wars fought by Genoa, the first two in support of the Republic’s Irish allies and the third declared by the Genoese on the Iroquois.
England, seeking to conquer the Isle of Eirinn, declared war in 1667. By this time, the English were in alliance with Spain and the Netherlands, whilst the Genoese / French / Portuguese alliance held strong in opposition to them. All parties took up the gauntlet and went to war.
Genoa once more assaulted Spain, and quickly forced the Spanish monarch to cede the islands of Malta and the Balaeres, completing the Genoese domination of the western Mediterranean isles (see fig. 13).
Fig. 13
Genoa then mounted a daring invasion of England, which the English no doubt had not anticipated in the least. London was taken and the Genoese, full of religious zeal and eager to make a point to the placatory pontiff in Rome, forced the conversion of England to the Counter-Reform Catholic faith, thus ushering in a period of great instability and turmoil throughout the English realm. England was forced to settle a hasty peace with Eire shortly afterwards, having failed in her professed aim of conquering the isle. France and Spain fought on until eventually France was able to seize The Hague from the Spanish in 1671.
Meanwhile, Genoa continued her development in the New World with a new colony in Mobile, a goods manufactory in Santee and a trade posts in Biloxi, Talahassee and Seminole. Turkey also annexed their Omani allies during this period and Bohemia annexed Thuringen in an attempt to stave off the growing Turkish threat to middle Germany.
Then in 1674, England once again declared war on her Irish enemy. This time, The Netherlands and Prussia were dragged into the conflict alongside their former Protestant friend, and once again England’s bloc faced the full might of the Genoese alliance.
England had still not yet restored her colonial presence in the New World and so it was to India that Genoa looked for opportunity, and this opportunity was fully realized when the English trade post in Cochin was seized and then surrendered to Genoa in the peace settlement of 1675. Another resounding success, as Genoese merchants now controlled the vast majority of the trade of the East. Trade posts were also established in the Everglades and Madurai. Turkey and Austria clashed during this period as well.
The decision was then taken, on the wave of enthusiasm for Genoese colonial success, to declare war upon the Iroquois nation, and following a year and a half of fighting in the forests of Appalachia, the Iroquois chieftan was finally brought to heel in 1677 and the Iroquois lands claimed by the Genoese Republic (see fig. 14).
Fig. 14
A few years of peace, 1678-1684
The year 1678 was marked by the Turks’ seizure of Salzburg and the final settlement of the first English-Irish war as Spain ceded the Caribbean isle of St. Thomas to Eire.
Genoa’s colonial efforts during this time were concentrated on developing the Republic’s presence in southern India. A colony was established in Cochin (albeit not until the sixth attempt) in 1679, and grew to full city status by 1683.
England re-converted to Reformed Protestant in 1680, thus lengthening her own period of unrest, which the Genoese considered a great success. England’s internal turmoil had prevented her turning her eyes to the New World and re-establishing a presence there, and by the time they sought to do so it would be far, far too late.
Two events provoked first sorrow then joy in Genoa. In the first, the Genoese lost four warships and a transport vessel with all hands during a violent storm off the Bangor coast, thus wiping out over half the colonial navy. The second event though was far more beneficial, as expectional demand for cloth in Milan added the grand sum of 2,060 ducats to the Genoese treasury. The City fathers were contemplating how best to invest this windfall when their deliberations were interrupted by the advent of yet another war with England.
The Third English-Irish War of 1685(-1715)
Although the prime antagonists in this latest conflict were to fight back and forth for the next thirty years, delaying England’s return to the colonial arena quite nicely, Genoa’s involvement in the war was short, but decisive. Swiftly seizing all of England’s remaining territory in India, the Genoese were able to secure the cessation of Trivandrum and the payment of 250 ducats in reparitions within a few short months of 1685. Thus Genoa became the sole European power to hold land in southern India (see fig.15), save for the Dutch presence in Jaffna, and a province or two for Spain and Portugal further to the north. Genoa therefore became the prime target of likely Mughal aggression in the future. A white peace was also settled with England’s only ally in this latest venture, Sweden.
Fig. 15
In 1686 the city fathers, still extremely wary of the Turkish threat to the Republic’s northern border - although not so much as one musket shot had ever been fired across it - ordered the commissioning of a conscription center in the capital to co-ordinate the raising of troops for the Republic’s defence, should the eventuality of war with the Ottomans ever arise.
Further colonial development came in 1687 as a city was inaugurated in Mobile and in 1688 the Madurai trade post became a full colonial settlement and further economic development as refineries were commissioned in Naples and Sicily. The anti-Turkish bloc was disrupted in 1688 when Thuringenian rebels brought down the Bohemian government and secured the return to independence of their homeland.
In 1690, following the latest round of hostilities, Turkey forced Austria to surrender Ostmarch and further to the east, the lands of the Teutonic Order were absorbed by the burgeoning might of Russia, Venice’s continuing overlord and protector. In 1692, Turkey continued to gain ground with the seizure of Wallachia from Poland, further pushing back the boundaries of Balkan Christendom. Genoa’s ally Portugal saw some measure of success with the seizure of the previously-English Centre of Trade in Yarra – further hastening the general English decline.
In 1693 Genoa suffered as the result of poor government policies, as an over-zealous pro-Guadaloupe Company minister sought to swing legislation in their favour. As a result, Genoese traders stopped exchanging information as freely, and both industry and national stability suffered as a result [random].
1694 saw a move in the right direction with the inauguration of a city in Madurai and a new trade post was established in Bayou, which in 1696 was expanded to colony status. At this time a third attempt was made to establish a fire-resistant naval equipment manufactory in Corsica.
1697 saw another rush of eager colonists [random], perhaps caught up in the fin-de-siecle fever of the ending of the 17th Century. Colonists, a conquistador and a small private army all eagerly gathered to set sail for the New World. As a result, new colonies were established on the isle of St. Helena and in Far Eastern Mahe.
In 1698 Russia and her Danish allies went to war with Brandenburg and Sweden, a conflict that resulted in 1699 in the surrender of Jylland and Holstein to the Germans and the Swedish capture of Osterboten, Savolaks and Far Karelia from Russia. Not the most successful campaign in military history on the part of the aggressor (see fig.16).
Fig. 16
