"All historians agree that the was the first national or state institution of its kind of the modern ages. The causes of its creation are to be found in the history of the republic... the character of its people, its industries, and its commercial relations with other nations. Venice may properly be called the most ancient republic of modern times... The commerce of Venice had sought the most distant shores of the then known world before the first was elected, and historians assert that as early as the seventh century, the ports of Syria, the Archipelago, and the Black Sea were almost exclusively visited by the vessels of the republic. ...From the earliest times the doges appear to have had the right to coin money, and the oldest Venetian coins extant are of silver..."