Long before Venice dominated the Adriatic, a small republic on the Dalmatian coast built a maritime empire through cunning diplomacy and trade. This episode follows the rise of Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik) from its founding by Roman refugees to its golden age as a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. We explore how the Ragusans secured unprecedented trade privileges from Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1458, becoming the empire's window to the West. Learn about the Arbanaška Street bazaar, the galleons carrying Balkan silver and Bosnian salt, and the shrewd negotiators who kept the Ottoman fleet from their walls. We also examine the controversial role of Ragusan merchants in the trans-Saharan slave trade and their secret intelligence network that made them indispensable to both the Sublime Porte and European courts. Finally, we discuss the 1667 earthquake that nearly destroyed the city and how it was rebuilt into the UNESCO jewel we know today.
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