Genoa is an ancient city with a long history. The Ligurians had already lived in the area long before the ancient Roman city was built. It was once an administrative district of the Roman Empire. It fell into the hands of Byzantine after the fall of the Roman Empire and was later occupied by the Lombard and Franks. In the 12th and 16th centuries, Genoa gradually prospered by the Crusades and established an independent and strong marine republic, and was named after Venice, Pisa and Amalfi. The Republic of Genoa stretches out from today's Genoa until today's Liguria and Piedmont. She has several colonies on the Mediterranean coast, located in the Middle East, the Black Sea, Sicily, Sardinia and North Africa. In the most powerful period, Genoa completely controlled all of the Tyrrhenian Sea west of the Italian peninsula, including Corsica. In the past, there have been fierce power and economic struggles with Venice. After the failure of expansion to the East, it developed to the west and helped Spain acquire the New World. By the early 19th century, Napoleon's expansion made the Republic of Genoa part of the French Empire. In 1815, according to the Vienna Treaty, the territory of the Republic of Genoa, except Corsica, was ceded to the Kingdom of Sardinia and later became part of the Kingdom of Italy with the reunification of the Italian peninsula by the Kingdom of Sardinia.