Institute for Mediterranean Studies

Research Projects

Onassis Business History

Onassis Business History

The purpose of the research project is to create a private Onassis Business Archive as well as publish a volume on Onassis Business History, based on the Onassis Archive material.

BLACK SEA

History of the Black Sea, 18th-20th centuries

The aim of the project was the identification, analysis and synthesis of the economic and social develοpment of 20 port-cities of the Black Sea that formed an integrated market that became the larger grain-exporting area in the world in the second half of the nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century.

STASH

Shadow Trade: Unraveling Maritime Smuggling Between the Russian and Ottoman Empires (1853-1914)

ERC

Principal Investigator: Anna (Ganna) Sydorenko
Funding body: European Research Council (Starting Grant 2024, Project ID 101166144)
Start date: 1 December 2024, End date: 30 November 2029
Total Budget: € 1,490,250
Host Institution: IMS-FORTH

Shipping and trade in Venetian Crete

Shipping and trade in Venetian Crete; The case study of Curcumeli’s company (16th century)

Funded by: Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies/ Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs
Host Institution: IMS/FORTH

HistOIL

Oil, but Not Olive Oil: How Petroleum Products Became Greece's Top Exports

Principal Investigator: Christos Tsakas
Collaborating Institutions: Institute for Mediterranean Studies

VHSS

Virtual Historic Sailing Ships

Promoting the maritime cultural heritage with the development of an integrated platform of 3D digital representations of historical ships.

Aegean Sponge Fishing

Aegean Sponge Fishing and the Island of Kalymnos, 19th-20th Centuries

Project Co-ordinator: Professor Gelina Harlaftis
Funded by: IMS-FORTH
Duration: 2019-2023
Research team ΙΜS/FORTH: Professor Joyce Goggin, Michaela Stergiopoulou

NAYS

Promotion and material and technical documentation of Greek shipbuilding and naval history – the naval battles of Salamis and Navarino

The aim of this project is to highlight Greek maritime heritage with the creation of three exhiibtions in Eugenidis Foundation in Athens.

SeaLiT

SeaLiT: Seafaring Lives in Transition. Mediterranean Maritime Labour and Shipping during Globalization, 1850s-1920s.

ERC

The program explores the transition from sail to steam navigation and the effects of this technological innovation on seafaring populations in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, between the 1850s and the 1920s, whose lives were drastically changed by the advent of the steam.

Black Sea (2012-2015)

The Black Sea and its port-cities, 1774-1914. Development, convergence and linkages with the global economy

The aim of the project was the identification, analysis and synthesis of the economic and social develοpment of 20 port-cities of the Black Sea that formed an integrated market that became the larger grain-exporting area in the world in the second half of the nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century.

ARCHERS

A port in transition. The modernization of the port infrastructure of Thessaloniki in the early 20th century

The history of ports is a rapidly developing field of research that has attracted the interest of many researchers in recent years. Τhe port of Thessaloniki is a fertile and at the same time quite demanding field of research. Port activity has affected essentially the social, economic and spatial process of Thessaloniki over the centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century the city had become one of the most important commercial ports of the Ottoman Empire and later of the Greek state. Our research aims to study the infrastructure modernization of port during the first decades of the 20th century. The remodeling of the port at the beginning of the 20th century transformed its image and structure, reorganized its own space, increased its efficiency, optimized its transport dynamics, gained a new division of labor, and transformed a large part of the natural city ​​environment. Thus, in a sense, the study of the upgrading port infrastructure, based mainly, but not only, on the Historical Archive of Port of Thessaloniki, is an attempt to find out the interaction between technological development, economic growth and the natural environment. Finally, our aim is to make a contribution to the better understanding of the history of the city of Thessaloniki

Greek Shipping during the Revolution: Merchant Shipping and Navy, 1821-1831

Greek Shipping during the Revolution: Merchant Shipping and Navy, 1821-1831

The aim of the program is to highlight the role of the merchant and naval fleets in the successful outcome of the War of Independence, but also during the early years of the Greek State, taking into account its economic and military action.

History of the Black Sea, 18th – 20th century

History of the Black Sea, 18th – 20th century

This ongoing project continues the work of the Black Sea Project. It still processes its archival material, statistical series and publications, and feeds its website with new information.