nferred: its exports were sent as far north as the southern
countries of the Baltic, and to all the rest of Europe, as far south and
east as Venice; but this export trade, as well as the import, seems to have
been almost entirely carried on by foreign capital and ships; the merchant
adventurers having yet ventured very little from home.

In 1511, English commerce, in English ships, extended into the Levant,
chiefly from London, Bristol, and Southampton. Chios, which was still in
the possession of the Genoese, was the port to which they traded. This
branch of trade flourished so much in a few years, that in 1513 a consul,
or protector of all the merchants and other English subjects in Chios, was
appointed. The voyages were gradually lengthened, and reached Cyprus, and
Tripoli, in Syria. The exports were woollen goods, calf-skins, &c.; and the
imports were silks, camblets, rhubarb, malmsey, muscadel, and other wines:
oils, cotton wool, Turkey carpets, galls, and Indian spices. The commerce
was in a small degree carried on by English ships, but chiefly by those of
Candia, Ragusa, Sicily, Genoa, Venice, Spain, and Portugal. The voyages to
and from England occupied a year, and were deemed very difficult and
dangerous. So long as Chios remained in the possession of the Genoese, and
Candia in that of the Venetians, England traded with these islands; but
ceased to trade when the Turks conquered them. From 1553, to 1575, the
Levant commerce was quite discontinued by England, though during that
period, the French, Genoese, Venetians, and Florentines, continued it, and
had consuls at Constantinople.

The small and temporary trade with the Genoese and Venetian possessions in
the Levant, seems to have been attended with such profit, and to have
opened up such further prospects of advantage, as to have given rise to a
direct trade with Turkey, and the formation of the Turkey Company. The
enlightened ministers of Elizabeth effected these objects: they first sent
out an English merchant to the Sultan, who obtained for his countrymen all
the commercial advantages enjoyed by the Venetians, French, Germans, and
Poles. Two years afterwards, in 1581, the Turkey Company was established.
Sir William Monson, in his Naval Tracts, assigns the following as the
causes and reasons why England did not sooner embark in the Turkey trade
for Persian and Indian merchandize: 1. That there was not sufficient
shipping; 2. the hostility of the Turks; and, la