venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 201
Sebenico, and Spalato ended up by taking thousands of men and women
into slavery and carrying off tens of thousands of animals; it also caused
the devastation of houses and farms and the burning of crops. During the
following war, in July 1499 and in the summer of 1500, Zara and its terri-
tory were attacked by an army commanded by the Pasha of Bosnia. It is
said that 7000 inhabitants were taken into slavery and 50,000 animals car-
ried away. Similar events occurred in the territory of Trau, and Nona was
almost conquered by the Ottomans in 1500. The war of 1537–40 brought
more hardships and losses to the rural areas of Venice’s Adriatic posses-
sions, particularly on Corfu. Khair-a-Din Barbarosa was also able to put to
fire and sword some 80 villages in Crete and enslave many young men.285
During the Cyprus War many attacks, skirmishes, and clashes occurred in
and around Zara, Sebenico, Trau, Spalato, and Cattaro. The Ottomans also
landed on Curzola and Lesina, causing great damage to these islands and
their inhabitants. Although these wars ended with no territorial changes
on this front, according to Praga (who published his book in the 1950s),
the years between 1540 and 1570 were the cruelest in modern Dalmatian
history. Many survivors of these raids and attacks fled to the fortified
coastal towns and to the islands, and also to Italy.286
The small islands in the Aegean and the Ionian Sea were often exposed
to raids. In 1537, most of the inhabitants of Paxo are said to have been
enslaved.287 The Venetian subjects of Cerigo suffered a similar fate in
the same year,288 whereas those of Amorgos, who were attacked by Bar-
barossa in 1538, succeeded in escaping to Crete.289 Yet a few examples
indicate that even relatively small islands could withstand attacks by big
Ottoman fleets. Thus, the island of Limnos, situated right in front of the
entry to the Dardanelles, was occupied by Venice in 1464 and resisted
repeated Ottoman attacks throughout the rest of the war. It was only sur-
rendered to the Ottomans as part of the peace agreement of 1479. The
smaller island of Skyros was attacked by the big Ottoman fleet that was
on its way to conquer Negroponte in 1470, but it successfully resisted this
attack and remained 70 more years under Venetian rule.290 Tinos with-
285 Ernle Bradford, The Sultan’s Admiral. The Life of Barbarossa (New York, 1968), p. 160.
286 Praga, History of Dalmatia, pp. 162–63, 165, 173; Carter, “Settlement and Population,”
pp. 11–12.
287 Bradford, The Sultan’s Admiral, p. 152.
288 Ibid., pp. 160–61.
289 Slot, Archipelagus, p. 32.
290 Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 2:300–01.