The Economy Of Latin Greece 211
infrastructures and services furthered the mobility of passing merchants, ships,
and goods. These stations also owed their significant development to the range
of their residents’ economic operations and to the settlement of immigrants
attracted by their economic functions.47
The partial re-orientation of trade from Latin Greece toward the West
resulting from a spontaneous shift was significantly enhanced by Venice’s
protectionist measures and state supervision favouring Venetian citizens
in trade and shipping. These citizens enjoyed preferential custom rates, and
Venetian carriers benefited from a virtual monopoly on maritime transporta-
tion to Venice, since returning merchants were compelled to ship their goods
exclusively on board Venetian ships. In addition, specific commodities were to
travel exclusively on board state galleys, in service since the early 14th century,
unless the authorities issued other instructions.48 The Venetian government
imposed a strict calendar of navigation between Venice and other ports, espe-
cially with respect to state galleys and private ships returning from the Eastern
Mediterranean, in order to prevent an overflow of merchandise and a slump in
prices on the Venetian market.49
Trans-Mediterranean Navigation Lanes and Major Ports
The main waterway linking western ports to those of the Eastern Mediterranean
hugged the Peloponnese, from where it split into several branches. One of
them proceeded via Negroponte and Thessalonica, another via Candia and
the southern Aegean to Asia Minor, while still another led directly to Chios to
reach Constantinople. Ships leaving Italy for Egypt sailed across the southern
Aegean to Rhodes and proceeded from there along the shore of Asia Minor and
the Levant, although open-sea navigation along Crete to Cyprus, the Levant
and Egypt became increasingly common from the second half of the 12th cen-
tury onward. Ships joining Constantinople to the Levant and Egypt hugged the
coast of Asia Minor and took advantage of the numerous Aegean islands along
the way. The geographic and natural parameters determining navigation in
the Aegean remained stable over the centuries. However, the conjunction of
47 Jacoby, “Changing Economic Patterns,” pp. 226–29.
48 On Venetian state galleys: Doris Stöckly, Le système de l’incanto des galées du marché à
Venise ( fin xiiie–milieu xve siècle) (Leiden, 1995).
49 Jacoby, “Changing Economic Patterns,” p. 222.