Genoese III

1528-1650 CE

From 1528 to 1650 CE, the Genoese discovered that financing empire paid better than holding one — Andrea Doria trading independence for Spanish alliance, his city's bankers becoming the creditors of kings, their asientos funding every war Philip II and his successors waged. While Spanish infantry conquered, Genoese ledgers recorded the interest. The gold and silver of America flowed through their counting houses before Madrid ever saw it.