Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Republic of Venice was traditionally founded in 697, when Paolo Lucio Anafesto is recorded as the first doge, and it lasted until 1797, a span of over 1,100 years. Its formal end came when Doge Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on the 12th of May 1797 following Napoleon's ultimatum.
At the height of its expansion between the 13th and 16th centuries, the Republic of Venice controlled Crete, Cyprus, the Peloponnese, numerous Greek islands, and several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as large parts of northeast Italy including Padua, Verona, Brescia, and Bergamo, and coastlines from Istria to Albania.
The Republic of Venice was governed by a doge serving as head of state for life, alongside a system of councils including the Great Council, the Senate, the Council of Ten, and the Signoria. The Great Council held legislative and elective power, with 2,746 nobles entitled to sit by 1527. Power was deliberately distributed across numerous short-term offices to prevent any single family or individual from dominating.
The Republic of Venice fell after Napoleon's armies occupied its territory during his Italian campaign. In secret negotiations at Leoben on the 18th of April 1797, France and Austria agreed to divide Venice's lands between them. Doge Ludovico Manin abdicated on the 12th of May 1797, and the Treaty of Campo Formio on the 17th of October 1797 formally partitioned all Venetian territory between France and Austria.
Doge Enrico Dandolo redirected the Fourth Crusade to besiege Constantinople in 1204, ending the Byzantine Empire. From the division of the empire Venice gained numerous ports in the Morea, several Aegean islands, Crete, and Euboea, creating its overseas territorial empire known as the Stato da Màr. The doge was also awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Venice became a leading center of European book production from the late 15th century, after the Venetian government passed its first law protecting publishers on the 18th of September 1469. Between 1495 and 1515, Aldus Manutius introduced the octavo format, the italic typeface, and the hooked comma, innovations that spread across Europe. By the end of the 16th century Venice had around 200 printing businesses, and in the last two decades of the 15th century one book in ten printed in Europe came from Venice.