After the fall of the Western Roman Empire it was conquered by the Byzantines who named it Provincia Maritima Italorum and then in the early 7th century by the Lombards, followed one century later by the Franks, who divided it into 3 feudal territories called Arduinica (in the west), Aleramica (in the center) and Obertenga (in the east), then was subsequently further divided into a number of fiefdoms such as Cavi, Lavagna, Savona, Ventimiglia, Nice, Genoa.
With the rise in power of the Communes against the feudal lords, very soon Genoa acquired the supremacy in the region, and became a powerful maritime republic, often at wars with other sea-trading centers like Savona and Venice. In the following century there were periods of independence followed by darker periods of foreign occupation, as under the Visconti of Milan.
The Republic of Genoa was an important ally of Napoleon, and suffered a blockade by the English fleet in 1805. For this reason it lost its independence in 1825, when the Congress of Vienna annexed the whole of Liguria to the Kingdom of Sardinia, under the Savoy family. The history of the region, always dependent on the sea, saw since mid-1800 a never-ending exodus of hundreds of thousands of Italian emigrants from the port of Genoa to destinations overseas.