Over the last few centuries, the Most Serene Republic of Venice has become the richest country in Europe and one of the most powerful. Through a combination of skilled diplomacy and a powerful navy, as well as the control of important centers of trade such as Negroponte and Corfu in Greece, Venice has crushed its rivals to completely control trade throughout the Mediterranean. Now the Ottoman Empire, a rising power in the Muslim world, imperils Venetian dominance, and a coalition of Christian powers, led by Venice, has gone to war with the Ottomans to put an end to this new threat.