Duchess of the Archipelago
| Duchy of the Archipelago | ||||||||||
| Ducato dell'arcipelago | ||||||||||
| Client state* | ||||||||||
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 Coat of Arms of the Duchy of the Archipelago
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 Duchy of Naxos, 1450, highlighted within the Aegean Sea
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| Capital | Naxos | |||||||||
| Languages |
Venetian officially, Greek popularly |
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| Religion |
Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox popularly |
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| Government | Duchy | |||||||||
| Duke | ||||||||||
| • | 1207–27 | Marco I Sanudo | ||||||||
| • | 1383–97 | Francesco I Crispo | ||||||||
| • | 1564–66 | Giacomo IV Crispo | ||||||||
| • | 1566–79 | Joseph Nasi | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Fourth Crusade | 1201–03 | ||||||||
| • | Duchy established | 1207 | ||||||||
| • | Crispo coup d'état | 1383 | ||||||||
| • | Ottoman suzerainty | 1537 | ||||||||
| • | Expropriated by Selim II | 1579 | ||||||||
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| * The duchy was a client state of, in order, the Latin Emperors at Constantinople, the Villehardouin dynasty of princes of Achaea, the Angevins of the Kingdom of Naples and (after 1418) the Republic of Venice. From 1566–79, the duchy was administered as a part of the Ottoman Empire before total annexation. | ||||||||||
The Duchy of the Archipelago (Italian: Ducato dell'arcipelago, Modern Greek: Δουκάτο του Αρχιπελάγους), or also Duchy of Naxos (Italian: Ducato di Nasso, Modern Greek: Δουκάτο της Νάξου) or Duchy of the Aegean (Italian: Ducato dell'Egeo, Modern Greek: Δουκάτο του Αιγαίου), was a maritime state created by Venetian interests in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, centered on the islands of Naxos and Paros. It included all the Cyclades (except Mykonos and Tinos). In 1537 it became a tributary of the Ottoman Empire, and was annexed by the Ottomans in 1579; however, Christian rule survived in islands such as Siphnos (conquered by the Ottomans in 1617) and Tinos (conquered only in 1714).
The Italian city states, especially the Republic of Genoa, Pisa, and the Republic of Venice, had been interested in the islands of the Aegean long before the Fourth Crusade. There were Italian trading colonies in Constantinople and Italian pirates frequently attacked settlements in the Aegean in the 12th century. After the collapse and partitioning of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, in which the Venetians played a major role, Venetian interests in the Aegean could be more thoroughly realized.
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Wikipedia