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Ottoman-Genoese Contest over Phocaea in the 1370s

Type Event Region Aegean Sea Time 1371–1380

In the 1370s, Ottoman expansion into the Aegean placed the Genoese colony of Phocaea (Foça) under growing security pressure.…

Timeline

  1. 1371–1375Dardanelles—entrance to the Aegean · Aegean SeaAfter the Ottomans controlled the Dardanelles and Thrace, the sea lanes and land security of Genoese colonies on the eastern Aegean coast increasingly depended on dealing with the Ottomans. Phocaea, as a major alum-trading hub, held outstanding strategic value.
  2. 1376–1379Phocaea · Aegean SeaWhile Byzantine Andronikos IV seized the throne with Ottoman and Genoese support, Genoa continued to control Phocaea's alum mining through the Chios–Phocaea Mahona; the fortress was administered by a Genoese governor and garrison commander, who refused to surrender to the local community or to the Ottomans.
  3. 1378–1380Phocaea · Aegean SeaDuring the War of Chioggia (1378–1381), Venice tried to detach Phocaea from Genoa amid Genoese and Byzantine turmoil, but the Mahona garrison swore not to surrender to the community or the enemy; Phocaea remained under Genoese rule through the war's aftermath until the final Ottoman conquest in 1455.

Sources