The Lower Danube Region and the South of Russia: International Trade, Navigation and Merchants in the British Consular Reports (1829–1900)

Abstract

This work by Christian Constantin on the lower Danube region and the south of Russia from the perspective of British consular reports from the nineteenth century was published by LAP Lambert Publishing in the year 2020. This work is another study by this author devoted to the economy and trade in the lower Danube and the Black Sea region in the nineteenth century—one of the previous ones, the article “The South Russia in Vision of the Europeans: The British Consular Reports on the Years 1882 and 1883” (Hiperboreea 2018, vol. 5, no. 5) was integrated into this book as chapter 3. Another article, entitled “Romanian–British Commercial Exchanges at the Lower Danube: The Consular Report of Percy Sanderson on the Year 1883” (Hiperboreea 2016, vol. 3, no. 2) was integrated as chapter 4 of this book. This, however, means that this work cannot be treated as something new.The book is divided into four main chapters. The first one analyzes the general problem of the transition of the character of the grain market in the lower Danube region in the nineteenth century, when this area was becoming gradually more independent from the Ottoman economy and the European powers were more and more active in that area. The next part of the work concentrates on a very particular problem (chronologically and thematically): the activity of European merchants in Odessa in 1882 and 1883 from the British perspective in the broader context of the economic rivalry between European powers in the lower Danube area and the Black Sea region. The third part of the work is devoted to the same time (the year 1883), but it investigates the problem of the economic exchange between Romania and Great Britain. The last part of the work depicts the trade and agriculture in the Brăila port in the last decade of the nineteenth century. From this short recapitulation of the content of the book, it is clear that it is mainly devoted to a rather restricted chronological period of the last two decades of the nineteenth century or even two specific years (1882–1883), which are described in the historical documents on which the author focuses. A period of more than fifty years, from 1829 to 1882 (in which Istanbul was still one of the main destinations of grain exports), is also described but rather as a point of reference to better expose the changes that occurred in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Hence, it would be more accurate if the time scope presented in the title of the work were more restricted chronologically.The choice of historical documents (British consular reports) is very interesting because such types of documents are often used by researchers interested in the history of diplomacy, or—analogically to travelogues—as documents that allow an investigation into the evolution of certain stereotypes or geopolitical and civilizational ideas, such as in the context of Eastern Europe or of the Balkans. In this case, the author uses the consular reports in the context of the economic history of the region. Unfortunately, large parts of the text, which appeared in the already-mentioned articles written by the author and were originally presented as transcriptions of the consular reports, are integrated into the main text of the monograph without such indication, and they appear to be the analysis of the researcher instead of being properly cited as historical documents (pages 48–72 and 76–107—hence, a great part of the book!). Even if it is only an editorial mistake, it is very confusing for the reader, and it disqualifies this publication. Hence, even if the subject is interesting, the already-mentioned articles, which served as the basis for this monograph, are more recommended than the reading of this book itself.