At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the count-kings of Catalonia and Aragon turned their expansionist policy towards the Mediterranean. The conquest of Mallorca by James I started an approach which was continued by his successors until the fifteenth century. The Crown of Aragon reached a dominant position in the western Mediterranean, in spite of the rivalry from Genoa, but was unable to displace the Republic of Venice in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Navy, the companies of professional infantrymen and the merchant navy were the bases of the expansion. Internal crisis and social conflict in the last two centuries of the Middle Ages put an end to Catalan hegemony in the Mediterranean.
