The Republic of Cattaro continued to remain in a state of semi-independence. It was usually on good terms with Venice, and the town contained a flourishing commercial colony of Venetians. Ensconced in the deep and well-sheltered inlet known as the Bocche di Cattaro, its trade was active and its mercantile fleet large. Its relations with Ragusa were characterised by mutual jealousy, owing partly to commercial rivalry (especially on account of the disputed salt monopoly), and partly to the intrigues of Venice, who wished to prevent all possible coalitions of the Dalmatian townships against her own supremacy.[287] A new Power now makes its appearance as a factor in the history of Europe, the Ottoman Turks, who were destined in the space of two centuries to conquer the whole of the Balkan peninsula, a large part of Dalmatia, and nearly the whole of Hungary, humbling that kingdom to the dust. The Serbs and other South Slavonic peoples by their civil wars and mutual jealousies prepared the way for their greatest enemy and that of all Christendom. In these events the part played by Ragusa was a curious one. At one moment the Republic actually tried to arbitrate in the quarrels of the Servian princes and to induce them to unite against the invader. But from the point of view of general European history its chief interest lies in the action of its Government in obtaining information as to the movements of the Turkish armies. The Ragusans were subsequently on good terms with the Turks, and permitted to visit all parts of the Empire, even when other Europeans were excluded. Ragusan merchants and agents sent home despatches which are preserved in the city records, and in them we can follow the Turkish conquest step by step, as city after city, province after province, was first raided, then rendered tributary, and finally absorbed into the Sultan’s dominions. This is not the place to tell the story of the conquest, but it will be well to remind the reader of a few of its more important events and dates.