Ragusa as Ottoman Trade Intermediary in the 1460s

Timeline

1. 1461–1464City of Ragusa · Adriatic SeaRagusa paid annual tribute to the Ottoman sultan in exchange for autonomy and safe navigation, while retaining independent diplomacy and commercial law. In the early 1460s the city's senate followed a policy of 'neither angering the sultan nor alienating Venice,' allowing merchant ships to move freely between Ottoman and Italian ports, forming a unique model of 'tribute without subjection.'
2. 1463–1467Bosnia–Ragusa trade route · BalkansOttoman expansion into Bosnia and Montenegro made Ragusa the main export port for Balkan silver, lead, wax, and livestock. Ragusan merchants transshipped these goods to Venice, Ancona, and Naples, and imported Western cloth, weapons, and metal goods in return; two-way trade peaked in the mid-1460s.
3. 1463–1470Adriatic and Aegean sea routes · MediterraneanAfter the Ottoman-Venetian War broke out in 1463 and both sides banned each other's ports, Ragusan fleets took on transshipment business as neutrals, indirectly circulating Ottoman grain and dyes and Venetian spices and glass through their ports. During the war Ragusa earned excess profits from its neutral status, strengthening its entrepôt function.