The Genoese restore the Greek dynasty,
and secure a more permanent footing at Constantinople. to reinstate the Greek dynasty, then fugitive at Nicæa in Asia; and to demand as their reward the entire command of the commerce of the empire, with an exclusive monopoly of the trade of the Black Sea. Nothing could well have surpassed the audacity of this enterprise. If Genoa failed, her commerce in Greece, at least, would be extinguished; while if she succeeded, she was certain to bring down upon herself the thunders of the Latin Church, the hatred of the Franks, and the vengeance of the Venetians. But the Genoese only thought of humiliating Venice, and of securing for themselves fresh monopolies; and they were for a time completely successful. Their navy brought back the Greek dynasty to Constantinople, and they themselves, armed with an imperial diploma, converted the suburbs of that city into a fortress for their own protection.
Galata.
Kaffa.
Having made Galata (now Pera) a place of
great strength, their port soon became the entrepôt
of commerce with the North and East. With vessels
especially adapted for the navigation of the Black
Sea, the Genoese, unlike the Greeks, did not intermit
their voyages during even the most inclement months
of winter; and Kaffa, through their enterprise and
influence, thus became a place of great commercial
importance as the factory for the receipt of the productions
of the north of Persia and of India, which
came thither by way of Astracan and the Caspian
Sea. The Genoese, however, like the Venetians,
were but too frequently harsh and imperious masters,
forbidding foreigners to make purchases or sales
among themselves, and requiring that every transaction
should pass through the hands of their own
