Carving out colonies across the Adriatic coast along with a sizable chunk of Greece and Cyprus by dominating the Mediterranean, the Venetians completely monopolized the flow of trade coming into Europe from the east.
No, what happened was, we humans, we had a clan of humans that occupied The Pacific Basin from the Orient to South America, to the West Coast of South America.
But a great part of the sons of Men, whether of the people of Uldor or others new-come out of the east, marched with the Enemy; and the Elves do not forget it.