Western Europe rose in global power during the early modern period as overseas expansion opened new trade routes. At the same time, intense rivalries pitted European states against one another in recurrent wars. Henning Hillmann examines the merchant community of Saint-Malo, Brittany, a key port in the French Atlantic economy, to shed light on the local networks that linked commerce and conflict in early modern Europe.

With a publication date coinciding with Earth Day, a new, six-volume set edited by Stanford English Professor Margaret Cohen explores the cultural history of Earth’s oceans from antiquity to the modern era.

Ο τόμος Παράκτια περιβάλλοντα της Κέρκυρας, Πολιτιστική κληρονομιά και τοπικές κοινωνίες παρουσιάζει τα αποτελέσματα της διεπιστημονικής έρευνας που υλοποιήθηκε στο πλαίσιο του έργου διασυνοριακής συνεργασίας «Fisheries and Cultural Heritage, Identity and Participated Societies» (FISH&CHIPS – Interreg Ελλάδα-Ιταλία 2014-2020), σε θεματικές που σχετίζονται με την παράκτια πολιτιστική κληρονομιά της Κέρκυρας και της Απουλίας, την ιστορική διασύνδεση των τοπικών κοινωνιών με την αλιεία και τους θαλάσσιους πόρους, καθώς και με δράσεις που συμβάλλουν στην υιοθέτηση βιώσιμων λύσεων για την ανάδειξη και προστασία του μοναδικού παράκτιου οικοσυστήματος των περιοχών αυτών. Το έργο προσεγγίζει ερμηνευτικά τον θαλάσσιο και παράκτιο χώρο της Κέρκυρας και της Απουλίας, και τα ιδιαίτερα φυσικά περιβαλλοντικά στοιχεία του, καθώς αυτά μετασχηματίζονται στον τόπο των κοινοτήτων των ανθρώπων. «Διαβάζοντας» το ιστορικό τοπίο αποσκοπεί στην ανάδειξη της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς των περιοχών αυτών, σε συνδυασμό με τη δημιουργία μιας στρατηγικής για τη διασυνοριακή ανάπτυξη που σέβεται το φυσικό περιβάλλον και τις τοπικές παραδόσεις. Ο τόμος διευρύνεται με την προσθήκη του Παραρτήματος Αρχειακών Πηγών, που παρουσιάζει ανέκδοτο αρχειακό υλικό για την αλιεία στην Κέρκυρα.

Τα δυναμικά στοιχεία των Οικομουσείων ‘Πετριτή - Νότιας Κέρκυρας’ και ‘Μικρής λιμνοθάλασσας του Τάραντα’, που σχεδιάστηκαν στο πλαίσιο του έργου, αποτελούν εργαλεία που συμβάλλουν στην κινητοποίηση των τοπικών κοινωνιών να διατυπώσουν τη δική τους οπτική για τα υλικά στοιχεία του τόπου τους, υπογραμμίζοντας τα μέρη, τις πράξεις και τις ιδέες που αποτελούν στοιχεία της ταυτότητάς τους.

Πηγή: https://history.ionio.gr/gr/news/19633/

Το Κέντρο Ναυτιλιακής Ιστορίας του Ινστιτούτου Μεσογειακών Σπουδών του Ιδρύματος Τεχνολογίας και Έρευνας με χαρά σας ανακοινώνει την δημοσίευση του 7^ου τόμου της σειράς Black Sea History Working Papers

Linkages of the Black Sea with the West. Trade and Ιmmigration

Maria Christina Chatziioannou and Apostolos Delis (eds.),

Black Sea History Working Papers, volume 7,

Centre of Maritime History, IMS-FORTH, Rethym­non, 2020

To ηλεκτρονικό βιβλίο είναι ανοιχτής πρόσβασης και θα το βρείτε στο  www.blacksea.gr.

Shipping has been the international business par excellence in many national economies, one that preceded trends in other, more highly visible sectors of international economic activity. Nevertheless, in both business or economic history, shipping has remained relatively overlooked. That gap is filled by this exploration of the evolution of European shipping through the study of two Greek shipping firms. They provide a prime example of the regional European maritime businesses that evolved to serve Europe's international trade and, eventually, the global economy. By the end of the twentieth century, Greeks owned more ships than any other nationality. The story of the Vagliano brothers traces the transformation of Greek shipping from local shipping and trading to international shipping and ship management, while the case of Aristotle Onassis reveals how international shipping was transformed into a global business.

Authors: Thomas Taro Lennerfors and Peter Birch

Snow in the Tropics by Thomas Taro Lennerfors and Peter Birch offers the first comprehensive history of the independent reefer operators. These shipping companies, such as Lauritzen, Salén, Seatrade, Star Reefers, and NYK Reefer, developed the dedicated transport of refrigerated products like meat, fish, and fruit by ship, from the early 20th century to the present. Snow in the Tropics describes how the history of the reefer operators has been formed in relation to shippers, such as Dole and Chiquita, in a constant struggle with the liner companies, such as Maersk, and in relation to global economic and political trends. It also covers how the industry is discursively constructed and the psychological drivers of the business decisions in it.

Mediterranean Encounters traces the layered history of Galata—a Mediterranean and Black Sea port—to the Ottoman conquest, and its transformation into a hub of European trade and diplomacy as well as a pluralist society of the early modern period. Framing the history of Ottoman-European encounters within the institution of ahdnames (commercial and diplomatic treaties), this thoughtful book offers a critical perspective on the existing scholarship. For too long, the Ottoman empire has been defined as an absolutist military power driven by religious conviction, culturally and politically apart from the rest of Europe, and devoid of a commercial policy. By taking a close look at Galata, Fariba Zarinebaf provides a different approach based on a history of commerce, coexistence, competition, and collaboration through the lens of Ottoman legal records, diplomatic correspondence, and petitions. She shows that this port was just as cosmopolitan and pluralist as any large European port and argues that the Ottoman world was not peripheral to European modernity but very much part of it.

Source:www.ucpress.edu

Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812—winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal—turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as “seapowers” informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size.
 
Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline. Recognizing that the United States and China are modern naval powers—rather than seapowers—is essential to understanding current affairs, as well as the long-term trends in world history. This volume is a highly original “big think” analysis of five states whose success—and eventual failure—is a subject of enduring interest, by a scholar at the top of his game.

Source:yalebooks.yale.edu

Crosbie Smith explores the trials and tribulations of first-generation Victorian mail steamship lines, their passengers, proprietors and the public. Eyewitness accounts show in rich detail how these enterprises engineered their ships, constructed empire-wide systems of steam navigation and won or lost public confidence in the process. Controlling recalcitrant elements within and around steamship systems, however, presented constant challenges to company managers as they attempted to build trust and confidence. Managers thus wrestled to control shipbuilding and marine engine-making, coal consumption, quality and supply, shipboard discipline, religious readings, relations with the Admiralty and government, anxious proprietors, and the media - especially following a disaster or accident. Emphasizing interconnections between maritime history, the history of engineering and Victorian culture, Smith's innovative history of early ocean steamships reveals the fraught uncertainties of Victorian life on the seas.

Source:www.cambridge.org