Greek Commercial Practices and Long-Distance Trade: Russia and the Ottoman Mediterranean late 18th to early 29th centuries (original) (raw)
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Greek mercantile activities in the eastern Mediterranean, 1780-1820
Balkan studies, 1987
Preceeded by a period of capital growth in the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the years 1780 to 1820 were crucial for the economic development of the Greeks in the eastern Mediterranean in terms of trade, navigation, privateering, and monetary speculation. Smyrna, which was the most important international port in the eastern Mediterranean during this period, became one of their most important bases, from which they expanded and founded numerous trading organisations throughout the Mediterranean and north-western Europe.
Μain aim of this paper is to examine the terms and conditions that paved the way for the Ionians’ access to the Black Sea, in a period spanning the last quarter of the 18th century, when the islands were ruled by the Venetians, to the first decade of the 19th century, when a new State was established there, the Septinsular Republic. Therefore this paper will illustrate the institutional background of the Ionian presence in the Black Sea, but also the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the maritime economy in the area.
Between the middle of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries shipping became a major economic activity for many Ionian and Aegean communities. The growth of the merchant marine of the Ionians and Aegean Greeks under both Venetian and Ottoman sovereignty, and that of the kingdom of Greece after 1830, are examined in relation to shipping developments. A key element of this study is the analysis of the ship types that were employed by Greek shipowners over the period. The evolution of ship types helps us to understand the technical upgrade of the Greek merchant fleets and in parallel with their economic growth, their expansion to new routes and their specialization on certain trades and markets. As they made the transition from purely Mediterranean ship types to those influenced by those of western and northern Europe, seafarers improved the performance of their business and gathered important technical know-how. As a result they steadily integrated with the wider international maritime economy.
The paper presents the development of the Black Sea trade after the peace of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), when the Ottomans were forced to allow the trade of Russian flagged ships beyond the Straits of Bosporus and the dardanelles. during the next two decades, in a strained international context, Russia gradually developed a string of trading centres along the northern coast of the Euxine and encouraged foreign merchants to make full use of this new commercial route. European powers were quick in trying to take advantage of the rich agro-pastoral resources of the Black Sea area, but fruitful exchanges were often interrupted by military issues or the Porte's reluctance to completely open the Black Sea to international trade and shipping. during a second phase, between the beginnings of the French revolutionary wars and the Peace of Adrianople (1829), Black Sea trade faced similar discontinuities and hindrances and was often interrupted by political and diplomatic problems. But the quasi-permanent war on the continent and the disruption of normal agricultural cycles made Russian grain an important and desired alimentary resource,