![](http://www.alamy.com/thumbs/6/AE1BE739-1216-4F3C-94F8-9F2B41BC9853/2B01GG0.jpg)
Italy/Venice: 'Neptune Offering Gifts to Venice'. Fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (5 March 1696 - 27 March 1770), c. 1750s. For centuries Venice was Europe’s prime trading partner with the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire in particular. Venetian naval and commercial power was unrivalled in Europe until it lost a series of wars to the Ottoman armies in the 15th century. The city lost some 50,000 people to the Black Death in 1575-1577, but remained a major manufacturing center and port well into the 18th century.
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Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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