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The Venetians: A new history: from Marco Polo to Casanova by Paul Strathern is a refreshing and authoritative new look at the history of the most evocative of city states. The Republic of Venice was the first great economic, cultural, and naval power of the modern Western world. After winning the struggle for ascendency in the late 13th century, the Republic enjoyed centuries of unprecedented glory and built a trading empire which at its apogee reached as far afield as China, Syria and West Africa.