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The Republic of Genoa, in full the Most Serene Republic of Genoa (known as the Ligurian Republic from 1798 to 1805) was an independent state in Liguria on the Northwestern Italian coast from ca. 1100 to 1805, when it was annexed by France. Although its restoration was briefly proclaimed in 1814 following the defeat of Napoleon, this was short-lived, and the Republic was ultimately annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia.
The Republic initially came into existence in the early 12th century, when Genoa became a self-governing Commune within the old Regnum Italicum. In its early centuries, Genoa was an important trading city, second only to Venice of the great Italian cities. It had important trading interests throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Its principle rival was Pisa, whom it ultimately defeated, taking the island of Corsica from it in the late 13th century.
Genoa went into a decline in the late 14th and 15th centuries, and was ultimately occupied by the French or the Milanese for much of the period. From 1499 to 1528, it reached its nadir, being under nearly continual French occupation until the great admiral Andrea Doria allied with the Emperor to oust the French and restore Genoa's independence.
Thereafter, Genoa underwent something of a revival as a junior associate of the Spanish Empire, with Genoese bankers, in particular, financing many of the Spanish crown's foreign endeavors. The Genoese banker Ambrogio Spinola, for instance, himself raised and led an army that fought in the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. The decline of Spain in the 17th century brought also the renewed decline of Genoa, and the Spanish crown's frequent bankruptcies, in particular, ruined many of Genoa's merchant houses.
Genoa continued its slow decline in the 18th century, and in 1768 was forced by endemic rebellion to sell Corsica to the French. In 1797 the Republic was occupied by the French revolutionary army of Napoleon Bonaparte, who overthrew the old elites who had ruled the city for all of its history, and replaced them with a popular republic known as the Ligurian Republic.
After Bonaparte's seizure of power in France, a more conservative constitution was enacted, but the Ligurian Republic's life was short - in 1805 it was annexed by France, becoming the départements of Apennins, Gênes, and Montenotte.
Following the defeat of Napoleon in the spring of 1814, local elites, encouraged by the British agent Lord William Bentinck proclaimed the restoration of the old Republic, but it was decided at the Congress of Vienna that Genoa should be given to the Kingdom of Sardinia. British troops suppressed the republic in December of 1814, and it was annexed by Sardinia on January 3, 1815.
See also: Genoa, Doges of Genoa.
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