Lepanto

By the 1770s, Cyprus had belonged to the Venetian Republic for about 80 years, but it was located about 2,000 kilometres from St Mark’s Square, the centre of the Venetian Empire, and this was a colossal distance at the time. The island had briefly belonged to the Muslims before it became part of the Venetian Empire, and later became a Crusader state. Cyprus is located just 70 kilometres from the Turkish coast, and the Ottoman Empire was opposed to the Christian rule over the area, as the Sultan believed that a land that had known “the true faith” should not be controlled by “infidels”. He therefore demanded an annual contribution of 8,000 ducats from Venice, which the Republic was willing to pay, in order to cement its ownership of Cyprus. The agreement, however, was ambiguous and so each side interpreted it differently: the Venetians maintained that Cyprus was an important extension of their Empire, while the Ottomans claimed that their sovereignty over the island was undisputed, and had only been transferred to the Venetians temporarily, for as long as it was convenient. The sultan later decided that he would regain control of the island, and rumours began to spread rapidly about the Ottoman Empire’s intentions. By 1569, Venice was worried: reports from Marcantonio Barbaro, the ambassador to Constantinople, were inconsistent, and did little to alleviate the Venetians’ concerns. The Turks began to build transport ships and manufacture weapons, and this unnerved their rivals even further. Barbaro and the other Venetian patricians held on to the hope that the sultan simply wished to free the Moriscos, the Muslim subjects of the Christian rulers in Spain, but deep down, they knew that an Ottoman attack on Cyprus was imminent.