Thalassocracy
From Free net encyclopedia
The term thalassocracy (from the Greek Θαλασσο-κρατία) refers to a state with primarily maritime realms — an empire at sea, such as the Phoenician network of merchant cities. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories (for example: Tyre, Sidon, or Carthage). Distinguish this traditional sense of thalassocracy from an "empire", where the state's territories, though possibly linked principally or solely by the sea lanes, generally extend into mainland interiors.
The term can also simply refer to naval supremacy, in either military or commercial senses of the word "supremacy".
The word thalassocracy itself, deriving from the Greek thalassokratiā—"thalassa" meaning "sea", and "kratiā" meaning "rule" or "government", first occurred amongst the ancient Greeks describing the government of the Minoan civilization, whose power depended on its navy. Herodotus spoke of the need to counter the Phoenician thalassocracy by developing Greek "empire of the sea".
Examples
More modern examples include the Republic of Venice, conventionally divided in the fifteenth century into the Dogado of Venice and the Lagoon, the Terrafirma of Venetian holdings in northern Italy, and the Mar of the Venetian outlands bound by the sea.
One can also see the Dubrovnik Republic as a "thalassocracy".
The Portuguese empire, the Dutch empire, and the British empire also started as thalassocracies, but they eventually acquired large land territories.
Other thalassocracies: