The republic of Ragusa was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik from 1358 when it broke of from Venetian domination until 1808 when it was conquered by Napolean. We had a lecture on the diplomacy of this republic and it was fascinating. It was ruled by a small group of aristocratic families. They were somehow able to stay neutral and not get conquered by either a European power or the Ottoman Empire. It made a treaty with the Turks and paid tribute which allowed them to receive trading privileges with the whole empire. Their diplomats would cry in the Turkish courts claiming Ragusa was very poor so as not to pay more tribute. They even went so far as to stay in cheap homes in Istanbul to demonstrate their poverty meanwhile building a rich trading nation. To the Europeans they cried about paying tribute to the Turks and how they were only doing it to held Christians still living under Turkish rule. 

Today in Dubrovnik I visited the maritime museum which explained about Ragusa being a maritime power. The museum had a great collection of model ships dating back to that period. I also went to the ethnographic museum. The third thing I did was go to the staircase that was used in the Walk of Shame in Game of Thrones.