And while trade can lead to conflicts, on balance, it has been responsible for more peaceful contacts than violent ones, because, you know, death is bad for business. This was certainly the case in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the periods of trade-based diplomacy were longer and more frequent than periods of war, even though all we ever talk about is war, because it's very dramatic, which is why my brother Hank's favorite video game is called Assassin's Creed, not Some Venetian Guys Negotiate a Trade Treaty. Thanks, Thought Bubble. So here's another example of non-Europeans supporting the Renaissance. The Venetians exported textiles to the Ottomans. They were usually woven in other cities, like Florence, and the reason Florentine textiles were so valuable is because their color remained vibrant. That was because they were dyed with a chemical called alum, which was primarily found in Anatolia, in the Ottoman Empire.