Crises and Opportunities: Greek and Bulgarian Bourgeoisie and Muslim Merchants in the 19th Century Black Sea Trade

In the 19th century, there were some crises in the Black Sea trade and some opportunities related to these crises. The monopoly power of the Ottoman Empire in the Black Sea trade was shared among other regional actors in the process that began with the 1774 Kucuk Kaynarca Agreement. The Russian Empire's start to trade in the Black Sea was a crisis for the Muslim Ottoman merchant in the region, but it was an opportunity for Greek sailors. In this crisis environment, the Muslim merchant has turned to the east, namely the Black Sea-Iran transit trade route. As a result of the crisis in the Black Sea, they turned to Iranian trade and seized an opportunity. As a result of the industrialization activities, the integration of the world economy made the Balkan geography important. The dominance of the Greeks in trade created a crisis for Bulgarian merchants. However, the political crises of the Ottoman Empire allowed the Bulgarian bourgeoisie to grow. The Bulgarian bourgeoisie maintained good relations with the Ottoman Empire for many years, and even tax collections on behalf of the Ottomans caused serious tensions between the bourgeoisie and the people. In this article, as in Schumpeter's crisis theory, it is tried to be explained that the 19th century Black Sea trade creates crises and opportunities. Classification-N83, N90, P12, P45