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.