Republics Built on Trade: Venice Genoa and Merchant Power

In Venice and Genoa, commerce did not merely enrich the state; it shaped who governed, how wars were financed, and which families could convert wealth into authority. These maritime republics developed institutions suited to volatile trade, overseas competition, and elite rivalry. This history compares their political arrangements without treating them as modern democracies, showing how merchant interests produced durable governments while narrowing participation and exporting conflict across the Mediterranean.