RESEARCH IN MARITIME HISTORY
Research in maritime history has brought to Greek historiography since the 1990s a new methodology, using new information technologies together with new concepts and interpretations. The use of new technologies, the formation of extensive databases and the use of the systematic combination of local, national and foreign archival sources from different countries and different languages had never before been applied on such a scale, in such a systematic and organized way using large multinational and multilingual teams. The contribution of Maritime History to Greek History and more broadly to the history of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea is to highlight the sea as the main agent of change, vital for economic sustainability and development.
Bibliography: Gelina Harlaftis, “Greek Maritime History: Navigating Greek Maritime Historiography in Domestic and International Waters” in Katerina Galani and Alexandra Papadopoulou (eds), Greek Maritime History. From the Periphery to the Centre, Brill, Leiden, 2022, σελ. 8-51.
Research in Greek Maritime History in the last forty years has developed through a few basic questions and themes.
1) The first was to examine the importance of shipping in Greece and its impact on the national economy during the second half of the twentieth century. How large was the Greek fleet, what was the connection of Greek shipowners with Greece and what investments did they make in the Greek economy?
2) The second one concerned the spectacular growth of Greek shipping companies in the twentieth century. Who were the Greek shipowners and where were their shipping companies? Where did they come from and what was their relationship to Greek seafarers? How did they influence world shipping?
3) The third theme dealt with the importance of shipping beyond the boundaries of the Greek state in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: the business networks they formed, which empire(s) and nations they served. Connected to this were the Greek diaspora trading communities located in the main port cities of Europe.
4) The fourth question concerned the Ionian and Aegean islands that were developed as maritime communities. It examined island maritime communities and why they were so important to Greek shipping companies until the late twentieth century. It further examined their development patterns in response to political, economic and technological developments. It also examined Greek maritime labour on the sea islands and their connection to the shipowning companies.
5) The fifth question concerned the development of a general history of the sea. The Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea were chosen as the unit of inquiry and the research was extended beyond the Greeks. An approach was developed through the study of maritime regions, the formation of land/river/sea transport systems, port cities, trade and shipping and business networks.