East Europe (1432–1443 CE): Muscovite Expansion and Cultural Flourishing

The Republic of Ragusa had signed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire in 1458 that made it a tributary of the sultan.

Moreover, it was obliged to send an ambassador to Constantinople by November 1 of each year in order to deliver the tribute.

When the city-state passes into Ottoman protection in 1481, it pays an increased tribute of twelve thousand five hundred ducats.

For all other purposes, however, Ragusa is virtually independent.

It can enter into relations with foreign powers and make treaties with them (so long as they are not in conflict with the Porte's interests), and its ships sail under its own flag.

Ottoman vassalage also confers special rights in trade that extend within the Empire.

Ragusa handles the Adriatic trade on behalf of the Ottomans, and its merchants receive special tax exemptions and trading benefits from the Porte.

It also operates colonies that enjoy extraterritorial rights in major Ottoman cities.

Merchants from Ragusa can enter the Black Sea, which is otherwise closed to non-Ottoman shipping.

They pay less in customs duties than other foreign merchants, and the city-state enjoys diplomatic support from the Ottoman administration in trade disputes with the Venetians.

For their part, Ottomans regard Ragusa as a port of major importance, since most of the traffic between Florence and Bursa (an Ottoman port in northwestern Anatolia) is carried out via Ragusa.

Florentine cargoes leave the Italian ports of Pesaro, Fano or Ancona to reach Ragusa.

From this point on they take the land route Bosnasaray (Sarajevo)–Novibazar–Skopje–Plovdiv–Edirne.

Along with England, Spain and Genoa, Ragusa is one of the Venice's most damaging competitors in the fifteenth century on all seas, even in the Adriatic.

Thanks to its proximity to the plentiful oak forests of Gargano, it is able to bid cargoes away from the Venetians.

The spice trade no longer goes through the Mediterranean Sea after the great Portuguese explorations that open up new ocean routes.

Moreover, the discovery of America has started a crisis of Mediterranean shipping.

This is the beginning of the decline of both the Venetian and Ragusan Republics.

Charles VIII of France had granted trading rights to the Ragusans in 1497.

These rights are also granted by Louis XII in 1502.

Ragusan consuls are in France in the first decade of the sixteenth century, while their French counterparts are sent to Ragusa.

The fate of Ragusa continues to be linked to that of the Ottoman Empire.

Ragusa and Venice both lend technical assistance to the Ottoman–Egyptian–Calicut–Gujarati alliance that is defeated by the Portuguese in the Battle of Diu in the Indian Ocean.

An earthquake in Dubrovnik on April 6, 1667, is one of the two most devastating earthquakes to hit the area of modern Croatia in the last twenty-four hundred years, since records began.

The earthquake destroys almost the entire city and kills around three thousand people, one fifth of the population of the Republic of Ragusa.

The earthquake in the capital marks the beginning of the end of the Republic.

...Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik) to form the Illyrian Provinces, which he incorporates into his French Empire.

Napoleon's dominant interest in creating this political unit, whose capital is Ljubljana, is to cut off Austria's access to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea.

He also places the capable marshal Auguste Marmont in charge of the provinces.

Austria had declared war on France in August 1813, and troops led by General Franz Tomassich now invade the Illyrian Provinces.

An insurrection at Dubrovnik has expelled the French and a provisional Ragusan administration has been established in hopes of the restoration of the Republic.

Austrian troops occupy the city on September 20, 1813.