220 benjamin arbel
The long Cretan War (1645–69) was also extremely costly and coincided
with a period of economic depression, which caused a considerable rise
in the Republic’s public debt. The Peloponnesian wars of the late 17th
and early 18th centuries (1684–99, 1715–18) only aggravated the situation
in this respect.365
Fortification projects constituted a considerable component of the
Republic’s military expenditures. From the 16th century onward, the large-
scale projects aimed at fitting the old fortifications in the overseas territo-
ries to modern warfare technologies. For example, between 1491 and 1531,
according to reports of Venetian governors of Cyprus, 190,000 ducats had
been spent on the fortifications of Famagusta.366 By 1561, 250,000 ducats
had been spent on such fortification projects in Dalmatia, of which no less
than 144,000 were spent in Zara.367 Between 1577 and 1604, a quarter of a
million ducats were spent on fortification projects in Corfu.368 Most of the
money needed for these projects came from Venice, but subsidies were
also demanded from terraferma cities.369 From a purely economic point
of view, only in a few cases, such as those of Corfu, Zara, and Cerigo, did
the enormous amount of money poured into fortification projects prove
to be a long-term investment that enabled Venice to enjoy the fruits of
colonial rule for several centuries.
Venice’s “White Gold”: Salt and the Colonial Economy
Salt was arguably the most important product imported from the stato da
mar, and probably the most “colonial” product of all, since, being a state
monopoly, it was generally exported from the colonies without paying for
it at all, and all revenues accrued from it belonged, in principle, to the
Dominante.370 It was produced in many parts of the overseas empire: in the
Istrian salt-pans of Muggia, Capodistria, and Pirano;371 in the Dalmatian
365 Michael Knapton, “Venezia e il Mediterraneo dalla guerra di Cipro alla pace di
Passarowitz,” in Roberto Alonge et al., eds., Storia della società italiana, vol. 11: La Controriforma
e il Seicento (Milan, 1989), pp. 404–05.
366 Hale, “Part II: 1509–1617,” p. 433.
367 Praga, History of Dalmatia, p. 172.
368 Bacchion, Il dominio veneto su Corfù, pp. 85–97; Mallett and Hale, The Military
Organization of a Renaissance State, p. 446.
369 Hale, “Part II: 1509–1617,” p. 432.
370 Hocquet, “Fiscalité,” p. 286.
371 Hocquet, Le sel, 1:81–83. Istria also had some smaller salt-pans.