venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 231
In the mid-16th century, Cherso and Ossero had 120,000 heads of sheep
and goats, in addition to a great quantity of bovines, horses, and donkeys,
exceeding by far the local needs. A portion of these livestock, however,
served for the production of local woollens.427 Beyond serving as an outlet
for various agricultural products, Zara during the second half of the 16th
and the early 17th century became a main transit station for thousands
of oxen that were being led from Transylvania to Venice’s abatoirs, an
activity that was later characterized by cycles of peaks and troughs related
to periods of peace and war with the Ottomans.428 In the 18th century,
firewood exported from Zara to Venice was exempted from export duties.
It was often shipped by small vessels from Arbe.429 The fishing industry
was a central component of the economy of the Adriatic islands, such
as Cherso and Ossero, Lesina, Arbe, and Curzola, and a great part of it
served the markets of Venice and its other overseas territories. In the late
16th century the exportation of salted fish from Curzola to Venice, Crete,
Zante, and Cephalonia was dominated by Greek entrepreneurs and ship
masters.430 The salt for this industry arrived from Pago, which also served
the fish industry at Lesina.431 Cattaro was an important supplier of pitch
for the Venetian shipbuilding industry.432 The same colony also excelled
in its tanning manufactories and in the production of coarse woollens
and tallow candles, all of which were exported to the neighboring areas
of Albania, to Venice, and to Apulia.433
Olive Oil: A Colonial Staple in the Empire’s Twilight
Olive oil was a central item in the economy of the Venetian state. As one
of the greatest cities in Renaissance Europe, Venice used great quantities
of oil for food and lighting, for its important soap industry (which
consumed about one-third of the imports around 1600), as well as in cloth
427 Arbel, “Colonie d’Oltremare,” p. 962.
428 Michael Knapton, “Tra Dominante e Dominio (1517–1630),” in Gaetano Cozzi, Michael
Knapton, and Giovanni Scarabello, eds., La Repubblica di Venezia nell’età moderna. Dal 1517
alla fine della Repubblica (Turin, 1992), p. 368; Mayhew, Dalmatia, pp. 250, 254–55.
429 Pederin, “Das venezianische Handelssystem,” p. 159; Pederin, “Commercio, economia,
pesca,” p. 225.
430 Schmitt, “Das venezianische Südosteuropa,” p. 86.
431 Arbel, “Colonie d’oltremare,” p. 962; Schmitt, “Korčula”; Pederin, “Commercio,
economia, pesca,” p. 238; Hocquet, Le sel, 1:318–21; Hocquet, “Fiscalité,” pp. 303–07.
432 Raffaello Vergani, “Le materie prime,” in Storia di Venezia, vol. 12 (1991): Il mare, eds.
Alberto Tenenti and Ugo Tucci, p. 302.
433 Gelcich, Memorie storiche, pp. 166–67.