BLACK SEA

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.

Project Leader Professor Gelina Harlaftis

Co-ordinator of the IMS-FORTH group Andreas Lyberatos

Funded by Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs

Research Group IMS-FORTH Χρήστος Χατζηιωσήφ, Αντρέας Λυμπεράτος, Απόστολος Δελής

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. By placing in the centre of the analysis the sea and its ports, the analysis penetrated in the economic activities of the port-cities, the coastal area and the hinterland, the integration of markets and their interlinkages with the global economy, beyond political boundaries and divisions. The linkages with the global economy triggered development and convergence of regional markets in the global economy.

The project was led by the Department of History of the Ionian University, with Gelina Harlaftis as co-ordinator, a collaboration, on a national level, with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies-FORTH, the University of Crete, the National Hellenic Research Foundation, , the University of Thessaly and the University of the Aegean. On an international level, it collaborated with 23 academic institutions – Universities, Research Institutes and Archives – from the Black Sea countries, that is Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia, as well as from Moldavia, Norway, Italy, Israel and the United States. The collaborating group consisted of the following academic institutions: Boğaziçi University, Bilkent University, Düzce University and 19 May University from Turkey, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Varna University from Bulgaria, “Dunarea De Jos” University of Galati from Romania, Moldavian Academy of Sciences from Moldavia, State Archives of Odessa, State Archives of Nikolayev, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, University of Berdyansk, University of Mariupol and University of Kharkov from Ukraine, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), Southern Russia Academy of Sciences (Rostov-on-Don), State Russian University of Human Studies, European University of St. Petersburg and State University of St. Petersburg from Russia, Elia State University (Tiblisi) from Georgia, Jerusalem University from Israel, Southern State Connecticut University from U.S.A and Maritime Museum of Bergen from Norway. See www.blacksea.gr.

THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH AND THE PRODUCTS IN www.blacksea.gr

The Black Sea databases

The Black Sea Databases contain six databases: 1) Black Sea Historical Statistics, 1813-1914, 2) Jason database, 1810s-1910s 3) Argo database, 1835-1918 4) Golden Fleecedatabase, 1830s-1910s 5) Argonauts database, 1793-1920 6) Medea database, 1889-1930. The names of the last five databases have derived their names from the ancient Greek myth of the Black Sea, the Argonauts, where the main hero Jason on his ship Argo sailed in the Black Sea in search of the Golden fleece; in the Black Sea lands he married a woman called Medea whom he brought back to Greece.

• The database Jason, contains 2,200 entries with names of merchants, shipowners and bankers that were active in the Black Sea port-cities from the beginning of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Every entry has the surname, the name, the date of birth, the nationality, the profession, the guild, the size of imports and exports, the ships owned, the archive where the information comes from. Both Jason and Argo are interrelated and they are published in http://blacksea.gr/db/.
• The database Argo contains 1,900 entries of ships registered in the Black Sea port cities. Every entry has the name of the ship, the type, the tonnage, the flag, place of built, date of built, the captain, the owner, the place of registration, the archive where the information comes from. This database is interrelated with the database Jason. BothJason and Argo are interrelated and they are published in http://blacksea.gr/db/.
• The database Golden Fleece contains 23,679 entries, voyages of ships from the beginning of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. It concerns arrivals and departures from Odessa and Constantinople, and arrivals to the ports of Marseille from the Black Sea ports. Every entry includes the date of arrival/departure, the name of the ship, the flag, the tonnage, the type, the port of origin, the type and quantity of cargo, the merchant to whom it is addressed and the archival source from which the information is derived. The database is in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
• The database Argonauts contains 22,106 entries of baptisms, marriages and deaths of the Greeks from Odessa from the beginning of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Every entry contains the date of the event, the surname, name, nationality, age, gender, name of parents, their profession and nationality, the name of the godparents/best men or women, their nationality and the cause of death. The database is in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
• The database Medea, contains 6,060 entries of immigrants from Odessa to Buenos Aires. Every entry contains the name of the immigrant from Odessa to Buenos Aires. Every entry contains the name and surname of the immigrant, the nationality, the place of origin, the age, gender, and the ship with which he/she sailed. The database is in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
• The creation of the Black Sea Historical Statistics, contains statistics on shipping and trade for the Black Sea port-cities under examination. More specifically, a) the shipping statistics contain for each port-city arrivals and departures of total number ships, tonnage, flag, type of ship and number of crew b) the trade statistics, that is, exports and imports in value and grain exports in value and quantity according to the type of grain for every port-city, for every country, and export destination. The statistical data has been derived from primary sources from Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian archival sources as well as from British and French Consular archives. These statistics are going to be published in the entry "Statistics in the Black Sea Port Cities - Interactive history, 1780s-1910s, http://blacksea.gr/en/cities. The statistical series are in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Conferences/Workshops

The participants of the project presented 114 papers in international conferences and seminars of the Black Sea project but also in other international conferences. The Black Sea project organized 3 international conferences, in Odessa, Ukraine, (September 2013), Constantza, Romania and Varna, Bulgaria (May/June 2014) and in Istanbul, Turkey (September 2014). An internal workshop took place to present the project to the external evaluator C.Knick Harley in Athens (April 2015), and a workshop in Rostov-on-Don, Russia (June 2015).

Books

Thirteen volumes, e-books, are the outcome of the project with the title Black Sea Working Papers, in which the studies of 80 authors are included which of a total size of more than 4,000 pages. All the e-books will be ready for publication in the project's website www.blacksea.gr by the end of 2016. The books are the following:

1. Constantin Ardeleanu and Andreas Lyberatos (eds), Port-Cities of the western shore of the Black Sea: Economic and Social Development, 18th – early 20th centuries, Black Sea Working Papers volume 1, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

2. Evrydiki Sifneos, Oksana Iurkova and Valentina Shandra (eds), Port-Cities of the northern shore of the Black Sea: Institutional, Economic and Social Development, 18th – early 20th Centuries, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 2, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

3. Gelina Harlaftis, Victoria Konstantinova and Igor Lyman (eds), The port-cities of the eastern coast of the Black Sea, late 18th – early 20th centuries, Black Sea Working Papers Volume 3, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

4. Mikhail Davidov, Gelina Harlaftis, Vladimir Kulikov and Vladimir Morozan, The Economic Development of the Port–Cities of the Northern and Southern Black Sea Coast, 19th – Beginning of the 20th century. Transport, Industry and Finance, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 4, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

5. Edhem Eldem, Vangelis Kechriotis, Sophia Laiou (eds), The Economic and Social Development of the Port–Cities of the Southern Black Sea Coast,Late 18th – Beginning of the 20th century, Black Sea Working Papers volume 5, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

6. Vassilis Colonas, Alexandra Yerolympos and Athina Vitopoulou, Architecture and City planning in the Black Sea port-cities, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 6, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

7. Maria Christina Chatziioannou (ed.), Linkages of the Black Sea with the West. Trade and immigration, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 7, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

8. Socratis Petmezas, George Kostelenos and Alexandra Papadopoulou (eds), with the collaboration of Marios Emmanouil, The development of 24 Black Sea port-cities. A statistical approach, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 8, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

9. Athanasios A. Pallis, Ioannis N. Theotokas, Maria Lekakou (eds), Black Sea Ports, Shipping and Cities in Modern Times. From Central Planning to Reintegration in the Global Economy, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 9, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

10. Evrydiki Sifneos, Imperial Odessa: Peoples, Spaces, Identities, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 10, under publication in Brill publications, Leiden, 2017

11. Alexandra Papadopoulou, The intregration of the Black Sea markets to the Global Economy, 19th century, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 11, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

12. Anna Sydorenko, The economic and social development of the Crimean city-ports during the second half of the 19th century, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 12, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

13. Iannis Carras and Eugene Chernukhin, The Balkan Merchants of Nezhin 17th-19th centuries, Black Sea Working Papers, volume 13, under publication, www.blacksea.gr, 2016

Website: www.blacksea.gr

Black Sea Port Cities - Interactive History

In the second page, The Black Sea Port Cities - Interactive history, 1780s-1910s is an interactive history of 24 port-cities (Varna, Burgas, Constantza, Braila, Galatz, Nikolayev, Odessa, Kherson, Eupatoria, Sebastopol, Theodosia, Kerch, Berdyansk, Mariupol, Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don, Novorossiysk, Batoum, Trabzon, Giresun, Samsun, Sinop, Istanbul – and Nezhyn as a "land port") written by more than 40 historians from Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, specialists of the port-cities. It contains more than 1,500 templates – in a form of encyclopedic entries – of more than 2,500 pages for all port-cities, hundreds of photographs of peoples and places. A large number of the templates are based on primarily archival research and each template contains bibliography and archival sources. The aim of Port Cities - Interactive History is informative, that is, to make various aspects of the historical evolution of the port-cities known to a wider public and bring out the local and national bibliography and archival wealth. The goal is to have all templates in three languages, English, Russian and Greek. For each port-city there are templates in the following five categories: 1. Administration, 2. Urban landscape and Geography, 3. Culture and Community, 4. Economy and Infrastructure, 5. Statistics. The Statistics are based on the Black Sea Statistical series formed by the project and based on Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, British and French statistics.

The project "History of the Black Sea, 18th-20th centuries" continues using and enriching the research of the project “The Black Sea and its port-cities, 1774-1914. Development, convergence and linkages with the global economy” which lasted during 2012-2015. It continues the publication of books, enriches the databases and adds to the publication of templates for the port-cities in English, Russian and Greek.

Project co-ordinator: Gelina Harlaftis
Funded by: IMS-FORTH