17 to 19 October 2014
Participation in the 2nd International Scientific Conference on Browsing and Mapping of the Greek Space organized by the Sylvia Ioannou foundation foundation at the Cycladic Museum on “CORSAIRS & PIRATES IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN 15TH – 19TH CENTURY”
The main and main objective of the Congress was to re-examine the historical dimensions of a phenomenon that is constantly coming back to the fore at the end of the 19th century, being reviewed in detail, but knowing that this phenomenon continues to flourish even today.
2nd International Scientific Conference
From 17th to 19th October 2014, the 2nd International Scientific Conference on Surveying and Mapping of the Hellenic Space organized by Sylvias Ioannou Foundation at the Museum of Cycladic Art (Neophytou 4, Kolonaki) was organized with great success. Once again there were also representatives of the Maritime Museum of Crete, who perceived the knowledge and opinions of the distinguished speakers.
The main objective of the Congress was to re-examine the historical dimensions of a phenomenon that is constantly coming to the fore by the end of the 19th century, being reviewed in detail, but knowing that this phenomenon continues to flourish even today.
Speech approaches covered the following sections:
– Places of piracy
– Scale and type of raids on merchant ships
– Politics and Legality
– Piracy and State
– Illustrations of Pirate
– Piracy. Past and Present
The Organizing Committee was Ms Sylvia Ioannou, President and Founder of the Foundation, and Ms Artemis Skoutari, Foundation Director. The pleasant surprise – acquaintance with us was our acquaintance with our distinguished scientist, our associate professor, Mr. Nicholas Chr. Stambolididis, Director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, who not only welcomed the opening session, making a historical retrospective of piracy from antiquity to our days, stalling us in his own words, but also accepting our proposal for participation in an event in our Chania as a central speaker, presenting this issue in a brilliant way.
Significant members of the international academic community over thirty (30) if I remember well developed their positions on piracy and tested and established accordingly.
Sailing ships forming a headform a smart idea for the formal poster of the conference. Cruelty marks the pirates’ trademark.
Resalto in the turbulent waters of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Middle Ages that the Greeks played a leading role.
In the sessions we watched, the following presentations were presented in a brilliant way
– Places of Piracy: Mapping Piracy in Early Modern Mediterranean by Captioning Stories (Eda Ozel)
With the discovery of Tunis in 1574, the Ottomans guaranteed partial control and relations of mutual dependence with the North African regions of Tunis, Algeria and Tripoli, three historically active pirate bases in the Mediterranean.
The presentation was based on a narrative of narratives written by Muslim prisoners in North Africa in order to set up a map of pirated confrontations in the Mediterranean from 1574 to 1650.
– Pirates during the Revolution: Persons of Piracy and the Response of Local Societies (D. Dimitropoulos).
The subject of the announcement was the pirate action developed by Greeks mainly pirates during the Revolution of 1821.
The impact of piracy on the life of residents of coastal settlements, attempts to control the situation from the central administration, the reactions of local societies, as well as the involvement of locals with the pirate phenomenon, through their participation in the trade of goods and / or of their direct involvement in the crews of pirate ships. The boundary between illegality and legitimacy or rotation of roles and the effects of piracy as an action that destroys or, on the contrary, revitalizes the local economy.
– Cataclysm and trade of slaves in the Cyclades at the end of the 17th century (G. Koutzakiotis)
The Permanent Venetian-Ottoman Wars of the 17th century (1645-1669), (1684-1699) had turned the Cyclades into “no man’s Land” by Ben. J. Slot. The action of the Christian Commanders against merchant ships had in the meantime acquired a regularity, which favored the development of a whole range of economic activities which in turn allowed the direct financing and self-supply of the commanders. Slave trade was an important sector of the business that had been developed in the Cyclades. The relevant documentation of the French Consulate of Milos and Kimolos was investigated with the basic documentation of the operation of this trade and its Mediterranean affinities.
– Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean of the 17th Century (Joshua M. White)
The announcement explores the efforts of the Ottoman central government in Istanbul to regulate the activities of the corsairs originating from the ever-defunct ports of Algeria, Tunis and Tripoli, as well as to define what constitutes a legally permissible harbor. Since the end of the fifteenth century, the diplomatic tools governing the peaceful relations between the Ottomans and the Venetians, the ahtinamedes, included clauses prohibiting piracy and deportation of nationals of both sides. Similar articles have been incorporated into the ahtinamedes subsequently signed with France, England and the Netherlands. By the 17th century, however, the sultan’s surname nationals in North Africa had often stumbled upon these predictions, with Tunisian and Algerian corsairs regularly attacking Venetian ships and cruising on the Venetian coasts in violation of the Treaties and despite their objections Ottoman officials in Constantinople.
– Pirates, commanders of merchant ships and neutral: Maritime violence and international law in the Aegean, 1770-1830 (Will Smiley)
Between 1770 and 1830, naval raiders made the Aegean region increasingly risky. However, these raiders were not always pirated. They often held documents from governments authorizing them to do so. They were legitimate merchant ships. Whatever their legal status and whatever flag they wore, these Raiders were Maltese, Greek Ottoman nationals, or even British. They were often licensed by the Russians during their wars against the Ottoman Empire. Since the 1820s, however, a new sponsor has emerged: the independent Greek state. The announcement argues that legal maneuvers of this kind helped shape the ideas on maritime legislation in the Aegean and beyond.
These non-governmental networks have led to a series of legal discussions that illuminate the changing context of maritime and international law. Initially, these public debates focused on the rights of the warring and neutral states on individuals and property. Wider, however, revolved around who could set and exercise these rights. The Ottoman answers to these questions are listed in the context of the contemporary world debates on the sovereignty, legitimacy and rights of the warriors, as manifested in the Atlantic world by the 1780 and 1800 Armed Neutrality Alliances, the Paris Treaty 1856, and the cases of the US Supreme Court against Himley (1808) and Prize (1863). Thus, hidden Ottoman and Greek aspects of a global affair on maritime violence are emerging, showing how legal discussions on the special rights and duties of individuals and states have become a field of wider reflection on the legitimacy, national sovereignty and importance of an independent state in a a period when the Empire changed its form and ruined the nation state.
-Curb in the Limits of Economic and National Interests: Marketing and diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean in the middle of the 18th century (Vassilis Gounaras)
The announcement argues that the legitimacy and effectiveness of the British Corsairs in the Eastern Mediterranean in the middle of the 18th century (1740-1763) was determined by political processes that went beyond the martial law between Britain and France. After a brief presentation of four storylines dealing with people of different origins, an analysis of the Ottoman, French and British factors follows, which highlights the complex issues that defined the national and private interests in the Archipelago during the war periods. Καθώς η Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία ήταν σημαντικός εμπορικός εταίρος και επιθυμητός, ενδεχομένως, σύμμαχος τόσο για τους Βρετανούς όσο και για τους Γάλλους, οι κουρσάροι του Βρετανικού στέμματος παγιδεύτηκαν ανάμεσα στα συγκρουόμενα συμφέροντα της Levant Company, τη διφορούμενη στάση των διπλωματών και τις δικές του αντιλήψεις περί εθνικού πολέμου.
– Images of piracy in Ottoman literature, 16th – 18th century. (Marinos Sarigiannis)
Being one of the dominant phenomena of naval life in the Mediterranean, piracy could only leave its traces in Ottoman literature. Particularly the 17th and 18th century folk literature, as well as many more oriental-oriented works, contain several references to pirates and corsairs, both as heroes and protagonists, as well as as opponents and hunters of heroes. This paper discusses texts such as a pirated novel from the late 17th century, various adventurous stories of 18th-century Ottoman 18th-century, as well as more authentic texts of the 16th and 17th centuries on pirates and their treatment.
After the partial individual presentations of part of the speakers’ overall presentations, we want to give the conference’s exuberant interest, the very positive comments and individual knowledge we have gained. Interesting issues unknown to the many who are worthy to emerge. We hope and believe that we will soon be able to make a remarkable event as mentioned above with our co-operative Professor of Archaeology, Mr. Nikolaos Stambolidis, so that we all here can taste the essence of his knowledge and enjoy his speech that he will have “Piracy from antiquity to the present day”.
At the same time, we expect the official minutes from the conference for a similar projection.
Unparalleled positive impressions from the excellent conference we had the honor to participate in. Price for our homeland warmly Congratulations to the organizers.
The “Sylvia Ioannou” Foundation
In 2009 was created the “Sylvia Ioannou Foundation” with the main purpose of putting its collection at the disposal of historians, researchers, scientists in general and collectors all over the world.
In the late 1970s, Sylvia Ioannou, a sister of the shipowner Dakis Ioannou, began a collection of handwritten and rare books for Cyprus aiming at preserving and preserving the cultural heritage of the island. He has collected over 2,000 books, an excellent collection of travel books from the 15th century to today, as well as more than 600 original maps of Cyprus and the wider geographic area of the Middle Ages. In 2010, she successfully conducted her first conference on “Cyprus at the Crossroads of Civilizations, Surveying and Mapping”
Emmanuel I. Petrakis
Chairman of Maritime of Crete
Commodore (ENG) NAVY ret.