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Historical example of Venice (Italy)

Born from "economic crisis" the "political turmoil" asociated with the collaps of the Roman Empire, and land dominated by the HUNS taking assets at will from everybody (beware IRS)  - Venice called "the floating city" oriented to political autonomy, direct democracy, interference freedom and sea trade, prospered for centuries - its history is a "how to do instruction" for seasteading.

It grew so strong that not even the most powerful ruler Europe ever saw (Charlemagne) could subdue it and (his son) failed in the intent. It's power was drawn from the de facto status of being the sea trade center of Europe with the rest of the world. (speak Byzantine and Islamic world in that time).

Part of its magnificence and wealth was derivated from being a successful "major power-broker" for centuries but staying out of being "war territorry" itself due to its easy defendable "swamp position".

By the late 13th century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. It had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce.

The state of Venice was notable for its freedom from religious fanaticism, and retirement of leaders in case of political failure. Venice was quick to adopt inventions like the German printing press and embraced the new ideas and freedom of thoughts generated by books and their distribution.

It finally declined in the 15. Century when Portugal became dominating European sea power - and the black death devastated Venice in 1348 and once again between 1575 and 1577 - a negative side effect of being a port city trade hub cluster on international trade routes.

Until today the Venice business model is sea oriented and successfully keeping an outstanding position under all cities in Europe. It still is perhaps the most elegant and refined city in Europe, greatly influencing art, architecture and literature.

Venice hosted artist and revolutionary thinkers from Leonardo Da Vinci to Enlightenment.

Venice is also the city that invented BANKING the word comes from a series wooden banks on the marketplace of Venice where specialized merchants gave money interchange services to other merchants running the ships and merchandise .

Venice was the first city state in history making a living without agriculture resources.

Wikipedia about Venice here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice

• Why going oceanic is next big thing to come in business
• Offshoring megatrend of the century
• Business and Interference Freedom
• Ocean Business Development Key Player Network
• Historical background enlightnment
• Ramform base in the high seas
• Oceanic concrete sphere habitat
• Venice business model

-- Edited by admin on Thursday 3rd of April 2014 04:20:44 PM

What this picture shows very clearly is that Venice is not a single structure, but a cluster of housing units, wharfs, ports, and mobile units, boats, ships. Although Venice allways was stationary it had a 3600 ship merchant fleet that dominated mediterranian trade for centuries. It has "oceanic mobility by proxi" if you want to see it from that angle. Far from being a "raft of disconnected pioneers out in nowhere on the ocean" it is EXTREMLY connected with every trade hub in the mediterranian world, over its merchant fleet and it even is "extremly well connected to land" over a railway connection. So what makes or breaks a seasteading venture is commerce, connections, and power brokering. Not self sufficiency, not fishing, not agriculture. Beside oceanic trade, banking, and free spirited advanced ideas, in art and science, Venice was also famous for a local manufacturing product called murano glass. Computer chips might be a modern world equivalent, murano glass was hard to create, its production was a well guarded secret, and it was needed, desired, and valued trough out the mediterranian world. Venice also had assembly lines for ships centuries before "Henry Ford invented the assembly line".

Origins

Although there are no historical records that deal directly with the founding of Venice, tradition and the available evidence have led several historians to agree that the original population of Venice consisted of refugees from Roman cities near Venice such as Padua, Aquileia, Treviso, Altino and Concordia (modern Portogruaro) and from the undefended countryside, who were fleeing successive waves of Germanic and Hun invasions. Some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae ("lagoon dwellers"). The traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo at the islet of Rialto (Rivoalto, "High Shore"), which is said to have been at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421.

Beginning in 166-168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the main center in the area, the current Oderzo. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, by the Huns led by Attila. The last and most enduring immigration into the north of the Italian peninsula was that of the Lombards in 568, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire a small strip of coast in the current Veneto, including Venice. The Roman/Byzantine territory was organized as the Exarchate of Ravenna, administered from that ancient port and overseen by a viceroy (the Exarch) appointed by the Emperor in Constantinople, but Ravenna and Venice were connected only by sea routes and with the Venetians' isolated position came increasing autonomy. New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, dated from c. 568.

The traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, Paul's magister militum (General; literally, "Master of Soldiers.") In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the iconoclastic controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II. The Exarch was murdered and many officials put to flight in the chaos. At about this time, the people of the lagoon elected their own leader for the first time, although the relationship of this ascent to the uprisings is not clear. Ursus would become the first of 117 "doges" (doge is the Venetian dialect development of the Latin dux ("leader"); the corresponding word in English is duke, in standard Italian duce.) Whatever his original views, Ursus supported Emperor Leo's successful military expedition to recover Ravenna, sending both men and ships. In recognition, Venice was "granted numerous privileges and concessions" and Ursus, who had personally taken the field, was confirmed by Leo as dux[15] and given the added title of hypatus (Greek for "Consul".)

In 751, the Lombard King Aistulf conquered most of the Exarchate of Ravenna, leaving Venice a lonely and increasingly autonomous Byzantine outpost. During this period, the seat of the local Byzantine governor (the "duke/dux", later "doge"), was situated in Malamocco. Settlement on the islands in the lagoon probably increased in correspondence with the Lombard conquest of other Byzantine territories as refugees sought asylum in the lagoon city. In 775/776, the episcopal seat of Olivolo (Helipolis) was created. During the reign of duke Agnello Particiaco (811–827), the ducal seat was moved from Malamocco to the highly protected Rialto, the current location of Venice. The monastery of St. Zachary and the first ducal palace and basilica of St. Mark, as well as a walled defense (civitatis murus) between Olivolo and Rialto, were subsequently built here. Winged lions, which may be seen throughout Venice, are a symbol for St. Mark.

Charlemagne sought to subdue the city to his own rule. He ordered the Pope to expel the Venetians from the Pentapolis along the Adriatic coast, and Charlemagne's own son Pepin of Italy, king of the Lombards under the authority of his father, embarked on a siege of Venice itself. This, however, proved a costly failure. The siege lasted six months, with Pepin's army ravaged by the diseases of the local swamps and eventually forced to withdraw. A few months later, Pepin himself died, apparently as a result of a disease contracted there. In the aftermath, an agreement between Charlemagne and Nicephorus in 814 recognized Venice as Byzantine territory and granted the city trading rights along the Adriatic coast.

In 828, the new city's prestige was raised by the acquisition of the claimed relics of St. Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria, which were placed in the new basilica. The patriarchal seat was also moved to Rialto. As the community continued to develop and as Byzantine power waned, it led to the growth of autonomy and eventual independence.

From the 9th to the 12th century, Venice developed into a city state (an Italian thalassocracy or Repubblica Marinara, the other three being Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi). Its strategic position at the head of the Adriatic made Venetian naval and commercial power almost invulnerable. With the elimination of pirates along the Dalmatian coast, the city became a flourishing trade center between Western Europe and the rest of the world (especially the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world).

The Republic of Venice seized a number of places on the eastern shores of the Adriatic before 1200, mostly for commercial reasons, because pirates based there were a menace to trade. The Doge already carried the titles of Duke of Dalmatia and Duke of Istria. Later mainland possessions, which extended across Lake Garda as far west as the Adda River, were known as the "Terraferma", and were acquired partly as a buffer against belligerent neighbours, partly to guarantee Alpine trade routes, and partly to ensure the supply of mainland wheat, on which the city depended. In building its maritime commercial empire, the Republic dominated the trade in salt,[19] acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean, including Cyprus and Crete, and became a major power-broker in the Near East. By the standards of the time, Venice's stewardship of its mainland territories was relatively enlightened and the citizens of such towns as Bergamo, Brescia and Verona rallied to the defence of Venetian sovereignty when it was threatened by invaders.

Venice remained closely associated with Constantinople, being twice granted trading privileges in the Eastern Roman Empire, through the so-called Golden Bulls or 'chrysobulls' in return for aiding the Eastern Empire to resist Norman and Turkish incursions. In the first chrysobull, Venice acknowledged its homage to the Empire but not in the second, reflecting the decline of Byzantium and the rise of Venice's power.

Venice became an imperial power following the Fourth Crusade, which, having veered off course, culminated in 1204 by capturing and sacking Constantinople and establishing the Latin Empire. As a result of this conquest, considerable Byzantine plunder was brought back to Venice. This plunder included the gilt bronze horses from the Hippodrome of Constantinople, which were originally placed above the entrance to St Mark's cathedral in Venice, although the originals have been replaced with replicas and are now stored within the basilica. Following the fall of Constantinople, the former Roman Empire was partitioned among the Latin crusaders and the Venetians. Venice subsequently carved out a sphere of influence in the Mediterranean known as the Duchy of the Archipelago, and captured Crete.

The seizure of Constantinople would ultimately prove as decisive a factor in ending the Byzantine Empire as the loss of the Anatolian themes after Manzikert. Although the Byzantines recovered control of the ravaged city a half century later, the Byzantine Empire was terminally weakened, and existed as a ghost of its old self until Sultan Mehmet The Conqueror took the city in 1453.
View of San Giorgio Maggiore Island from St. Mark's Campanile

Situated on the Adriatic Sea, Venice always traded extensively with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim world. By the late 13th century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. At the peak of its power and wealth, it had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce. During this time, Venice's leading families vied with each other to build the grandest palaces and support the work of the greatest and most talented artists. The city was governed by the Great Council, which was made up of members of the noble families of Venice. The Great Council appointed all public officials and elected a Senate of 200 to 300 individuals. Since this group was too large for efficient administration, a Council of Ten (also called the Ducal Council or the Signoria), controlled much of the administration of the city. One member of the great council was elected "Doge", or duke, the ceremonial head of the city, who normally held the title until his death.

The Venetian governmental structure was similar in some ways to the republican system of ancient Rome, with an elected chief executive (the Doge), a senate-like assembly of nobles, and a mass of citizens with limited political power, who originally had the power to grant or withhold their approval of each newly elected Doge. Church and various private properties were tied to military service, although there was no knight tenure within the city itself. The Cavalieri di San Marco was the only order of chivalry ever instituted in Venice, and no citizen could accept or join a foreign order without the government's consent. Venice remained a republic throughout its independent period, and politics and the military were kept separate, except when on occasion the Doge personally headed the military. War was regarded as a continuation of commerce by other means (hence, the city's early production of large numbers of mercenaries for service elsewhere, and later its reliance on foreign mercenaries when the ruling class was preoccupied with commerce).

The chief executive was the Doge, who theoretically held his elective office for life. In practice, several Doges were forced by pressure from their oligarchical peers to resign the office and retire into monastic seclusion when they were felt to have been discredited by perceived political failure.

Although the people of Venice generally remained orthodox Roman Catholics, the state of Venice was notable for its freedom from religious fanaticism and it enacted not a single execution for religious heresy during the Counter-Reformation. This apparent lack of zeal contributed to Venice's frequent conflicts with the Papacy. In this context, the writings of the Anglican Divine, William Bedell, are particularly illuminating. Venice was threatened with the interdict on a number of occasions and twice suffered its imposition. The second, most famous, occasion was in 1606, by order of Pope Paul V.

Venetian ambassadors sent home still-extant secret reports of the politics and rumours of European courts, providing fascinating information to modern historians.

The newly invented German printing press spread rapidly throughout Europe in the 15th century, and Venice was quick to adopt it. By 1482, Venice was the printing capital of the world, and the leading printer was Aldus Manutius, who invented the concept of paperback books that could be carried in a saddlebag. His Aldine Editions included translations of nearly all the known Greek manuscripts of the era.^[23]

Venice's long decline started in the 15th century, when it first made an unsuccessful attempt to hold Thessalonica against the Ottomans (1423–1430). It also sent ships to help defend Constantinople against the besieging Turks (1453). After Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II, he declared war on Venice. The war lasted thirty years and cost Venice much of its eastern Mediterranean possessions. Next, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. Then Portugal found a sea route to India, destroying Venice's land route monopoly. France, England and the Dutch Republic followed them. Venice's oared galleys were at a disadvantage when it came to traversing the great oceans, and therefore Venice was left behind in the race for colonies.

The Black Death devastated Venice in 1348 and once again between 1575 and 1577.^[24] In three years, the plague killed some 50,000 people.^[25] In 1630, the plague killed a third of Venice's 150,000 citizens.^[26] Venice began to lose its position as a center of international trade during the later part of the Renaissance as Portugal became Europe's principal intermediary in the trade with the East, striking at the very foundation of Venice's great wealth; while France and Spain fought for hegemony over Italy in the Italian Wars, marginalising its political influence. However, the Venetian empire was a major exporter of agricultural products and, until the mid-18th century, a significant manufacturing center.

The Republic lost independence when Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice on 12 May 1797 during the First Coalition. The French conqueror brought to an end the most fascinating century of its history: during the 18th century, Venice became perhaps the most elegant and refined city in Europe, greatly influencing art, architecture and literature. Napoleon was seen as something of a liberator by the city's Jewish population, although it can be argued they had lived with fewer restrictions in Venice. He removed the gates of the Ghetto and ended the restrictions on when and where Jews could live and travel in the city.

Venice became Austrian territory when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio on 12 October 1797. The Austrians took control of the city on 18 January 1798. It was taken from Austria by the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805 and became part of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, but was returned to Austria following Napoleon's defeat in 1814, when it became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1848–1849, a revolt briefly reestablished the Venetian Republic under Daniele Manin. In 1866, following the Third Italian War of Independence, Venice, along with the rest of the Veneto, became part of the newly created Kingdom of Italy.

During the Second World War, the historic city was largely free from attack, the only aggressive effort of note being Operation Bowler, a successful Royal Air Force precision strike on the German naval operations there in March 1945. The targets were destroyed with virtually no architectural damage done to the city itself.^[27] However the industrial areas in Mestre and Marghera and the railway lines to Padua, Trieste and Trento were repeatedly bombed.^[28] On 29 April 1945, New Zealand troops under Freyberg of the Eighth army reached Venice and relieved the city and the mainland, which were already in partisan hands.^[29]

Foundations

The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wooden piles. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on the piles, and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach a much harder layer of compressed clay.

Submerged by water, in oxygen-poor conditions, wood does not decay as rapidly as on the surface.

Most of these piles were made from trunks of alder trees, a wood noted for its water resistance.The alder came from the westernmost part of today's Slovenia (resulting in the barren land of the Kras region), in two regions of Croatia, Lika and Gorski kotar (resulting in the barren slopes of Velebit) and south of Montenegro. Leonid Grigoriev has stated that Russian larch was imported to build some of Venice's foundations.Larch is also used in the production of Venice turpentine.

History

The city is often threatened by flood tides pushing in from the Adriatic between autumn and early spring. Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city. This created an ever-deeper lagoon environment.

In 1604, to defray the cost of flood relief, Venice introduced what could be considered the first example of a 'stamp tax'. When the revenue fell short of expectations in 1608, Venice introduced paper with the superscription 'AQ' and imprinted instructions, which was to be used for 'letters to officials'. At first, this was to be a temporary tax, but it remained in effect until the fall of the Republic in 1797. Shortly after the introduction of the tax, Spain produced similar paper for general taxation purposes, and the practice spread to other countries.

During the 20th century, when many artesian wells were sunk into the periphery of the lagoon to draw water for local industry, Venice began to subside. It was realised that extraction of water from the aquifer was the cause. The sinking has slowed markedly since artesian wells were banned in the 1960s. However, the city is still threatened by more frequent low-level floods (called Acqua alta, "high water") that creep to a height of several centimetres over its quays, regularly following certain tides. In many old houses, the former staircases used to unload goods are now flooded, rendering the former ground floor uninhabitable.

Some recent studies have suggested that the city is no longer sinking,^[34][35] but this is not yet certain; therefore, a state of alert has not been revoked. In May 2003, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated the MOSE project (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico), an experimental model for evaluating the performance of hollow floatable gates; the idea is to fix a series of 78 hollow pontoons to the sea bed across the three entrances to the lagoon. When tides are predicted to rise above 110 centimetres, the pontoons will be filled with air, causing them to float and block the incoming water from the Adriatic Sea. This engineering work is due to be completed by 2014.

...and the history of "going oceanic" and "going interference free" does neither start nor end with Venice. At the beginning of the Roman Empire whose collapse gave birth to Venice was a powerful seafaring nation that controlled mediterranean trade and went in direct conflict with the landpower Rome - Cartago (Carthage)

And Cartago was founded by a Seafaring folk called Phoenizians  ( Phoenicia ) whose origins lay in the dark dawn of history and are mentioned by Egyptian Cronicles, as a "ocean based culture equally sophisticated as Eqypt" destroyed by a Volcan eruption, (Thera) and today refered as Minoic Culture and probably origin of the legend of Atlantis.

If Santorini would not have been destroyed by a Volcano, Carthage, would have won the Punic War, and Venice been spared from the black death, history would be VERY different, and much more OCEANIC we would all talk different languages, be rooted in a much more seafaring culture, much less land based, build much less roads what is a Roman invention,  floating cities and dynamic geography would be implemented by now we probably would consider land merley as a opportuity to put a port for our trade fleets .

And before that there was Dilmun a seafaring folk from the persian golf doing oceanic trade with the hindus valley in India 5000 ac....mentioned in sumerian texts.

A older thread (October 29, 2011) on Seasteading about Venice....here

On the topic of dominating a worldwide business network from a small island also see the development of the British Overseas Empire. Based on a fleet of ships, oceanic trade routes... - read more here:

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t58976981/british-overseas-empire/

To learn more about the oceanic business man of modern times - read more here:

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t58935854/subdue-to-nobody/

Going oceanic:

why going oceanic is next big thing to come in business

Offshoring

megatrend of the century

The interference freedom scale of 1-10 read more

Interference freedom

Be part of the ocean business development network:

ocean business development key player network

Floating construction was not feasible when VENICE was built - but it is now.

Heavy concrete foundations like used in oil rigs are suitable as a floating base structure even for a Skyscraper .

Solving the technology bottleneck:

http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t59290740/seasteading-ocean-colonization-technology-bottleneck/

In the context of lean government, getting rid of poor success record politicians, interference freedom offshore, also have a look at new developments in the way we do business, interchange value and trade, and how traditional power structures tend to fall apart  : blockchain technology

Marine construction business. 5 billion humans will need real estate squaremeters at sea in the next 30 years as there is no development space left in land cities…
This mean that the equivalent of 780.000 Empire state buildings needs to be built at sea. 26.000 Empire State Building per year…every year…in the next 30 years.

Means about 70 Empire State Buildings every DAY !!!! during 30 years to keep up with the demand of housing space for a growing world population. And this is only to cover the housing needs - imagine the fabrication sites and aquaculture units that need to be built at sea to support that kind of population growth...

Modern Venice

Floating housing space units for open ocean locations :

. .

7,2 Billion USD investment in oceanic infrastructure, ports, wharfs, docks, cranes, .... transshipment, bulk storage, warehousing, load consolidation, oceanic logistics...

Why do investors invest bilions in "sandbank building" and cero in Seasteading - are we doing a "lousy job" on explaining the benefits ?

 | Marine Container Trade moves the World  | without it our supermarket shelves would be empty in 3 days  |

-- Edited by admin on Tuesday 1st of January 2019 04:35:17 PM

Historic Sea based trading networks - read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_route

Wilfried Ellmer

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