Commerce was always the favourite pursuit of the Ge noese; and as it was considered by no means disgraceful for the nobles to become merchants, the bulk of the capital of the nation was invested in commercial speculations.
The exports from the Genoese territory consist chiefly of silks, fruits, oils, Ste. There arc also marble quarries of considerable value. The manufacture of velvet is at present the most extensive branch of Genoese trade. Vel vets of every sort arc made in the neighbourhood of Genoa, but principally black velvets ; and it was computed that at one time 6000 workmen were employed in the manufac ture. There is also a considerable manufacture of a coarse sort of paper, the most of which is exported to the Indies. It is to be presumed that, while under the dominion of France, the trade of Genoa, like the rest of the empire, must have suffered much during the late war ; and the comparative poverty to which its late wealthy nobles have been reduced, together with the decay of public credit, and the failure of the bank of St George, render it improba ble that it will ever regain its former state of prosperity.
From the barren nature of its territory, the articles im ported into Genoa are very numerous. From France she is supplied with wine ; from Italy, with corn, cattle, fuel, Sze. ; from Germany and Switzerland, linen ; front England, woollen cloths ; from Holland, spiceries ; from Sweden with wood, iron, and copper ; from Russia with furs and hides ; and from Spain and Portugal with dressed leather, bullion, and American produce.
The earliest mention in history of Genoa, is in the year 241 B. C. when h is described as one of the principal cities of the Ligurians, at that time defending themselves against the encroachments of the Romans, a struggle which they maintained for more than 80 years. It was then erected by the Romans into a municipal city ; and continuing faith ful to that republic during the Punic wars, was destroyed by Mago, the Carthagenian general, in the year 205 B. C. It was, however, soon rebuilt, and, from the advantages of its situation, and the enterprising spirit of its inhabitants, appears to have early acquired such a degree importance, as to be stiled by Strabo, Emfiorium totius Ligushe.
After the ruin of the Roman empire, Genoa, separated by its mountains from the rest of the world, long maintained its connection with the Grecian emperors ; and although for a short period successively under the power of the Lombards, Franks, and Saracens, soon expelled its invaders, and before the end of the 10th century, had established a free constitution, resembling in its form the Roman repub lic. The government, however, as in the other Italian cities, was far from being fixed or stable ; and for a long series of ages. the history of Genoa presents little else at home but a continuation of struggles between the nobility and the people. Frequently, too, the latter, worn out by the vexatious oppressions of the nobles, threw themselves under the protection of some foreign prince, choosing ra ther the impartial dominion of a distant sovereign, than the name of liberty and real subjection to a haughty and tyran nical oligarchy. For a more particular account of these revolutions, see the article ITALY. But tedious and unin teresting as the relation of the struggles of the Genoese factions may be, the history of its external transactions gives us a high idea of the enterprizing greatness of the republic. In the year 1050. the Genoese forces, united with those of Pisa, the conquest of the island of Sardinia, at that time under the possession of the Moors.
In 1100, in conjunction with Venice and Pisa, they sent to the assistance of the crusaders a fleet of 28 galleys, and six vessels, and a body of troops commanded by one of their consuls, who, after a short siege, took by assault the city of Cesarca. The republics of Pisa and Genoa were soon after engaged, by a mutual jealousy, in a bloody war, which lasted, with various success, for many years, till put an end to, in the year 1162, by the interposition of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. But this peace was of no long du ration ; and in two years the war was again renewed, from a quarrel between the vassals of the two republics in Sar dinia. In 1190, however, we find them both arming a fleet to assist the Emperor Henry VI. in an unsuccessful enterprise to recover the crown of Sicily.