scholarly journals Maritime Commercial Empires and Land Territorial Empires in the Black Sea Region

Author(s):  
Liviu Mihail Iancu

The research I conduct is focused on establishing and describing the major patterns of international interaction in the Black Sea region which have repeatedly occurred throughout history, based on two main criteria: the major players acting in the region (extra-Pontic maritime commercial empires; northern Pontic land territorial empires; southern Pontic land territorial empires) and the relations developed between them (confrontation; cooperation). For achieving this goal of enhancing the historical and geopolitical knowledge of the Black Sea region, a preceding analysis of its geographical position and its key physical features (the ‘board’), of its geoeconomic and geopolitical characteristics (the ‘stake’), as well as of its key strategic points (the ‘trump cards’) is needed. This analysis is carried out in the present paper, while the description of the patterns and the comparison with the current situation and developments in the region shall be tackled in a subsequent paper. Key words:Black Sea, geopolitics, history, empires, land, maritime

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina GIRLEANU ◽  
Eugen RUSU

Having as target the semi-enclosed basin of the Black Sea, the main purpose of the present paper is to provide an overview of its general physical features and circulation patterns. In order to achieve this goal, more than five decades of data analysis – from  1960 to 2015 – were taken into consideration and the results were checked against known data, both from satellite data over the last two decades and in-situ measurements from earlier decades. The circulation of the Black Sea basin has been studied for almost 400 years, since the Italian Count Luigi Marsigli first described the ‘two layer’ circulation through the Bosphorus Strait in the year 1681. Since climate change projections for the Black Sea region foresee significant impact on the environment in the coming decades, a set of adaptation and mitigation measures is required, therefore more research is needed. Nowadays, the warming trend adds a sense of immediate urgency because according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centre for Environmental Information, July 2020 was the second-hottest month ever recorded for the planet. Its averaged land and ocean surface temperature tied with July 2016 as the second-highest for the month in the 141-year NOAA’s global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880. It was 0.92°C above the 20th-century average of 15.8°C, with only 0.01°C less than the record extreme value measured in July of 2019.


Paléorient ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Bleda S. Düring ◽  
Bernard Gratuze

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Podolak

Views on the institution of direct democracy have changed during the period of democratic transition. The various advantages and positive effects of direct democracy have been confirmed by the practice of some democratic countries. Its educational and political activation value for society was also noted, without which civil society cannot form. The referendum is especially treated as the purest form of correlation between the views of society and the decisions of its representatives. In a situation where two representative bodies are present – the parliament and the president – a referendum is considered a means of resolving disputes between them in important state affairs. The referendum is nowadays becoming more than just a binding or consultative opinion on a legislative act, especially a constitution. First and foremost, it is important to see the extension of the type and scope of issues that are subject to direct voting. Apart from the traditional, i.e., constitutional changes, polarising issues that raise considerable emotion have become the subject of referenda. Problems of this type include, in particular, moral issues, membership in international organisations, and so-called ‘New Policy’. This article presents the role and importance of the referendum as an institution shaping the democratic systems of the Black Sea Region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emil Oynakov ◽  
Liliya Dimitrova ◽  
Lyubka Pashova ◽  
Dragomir Dragomirov

<p>Low-laying territories along the Black Sea coastal line are more vulnerable to the possible high (long) waves due to tsunami events caused by strong earthquakes in the active seismic regions. Historically, such events are rare in the Black Sea region, despite some scientific evidence of tsunamis and their recordings through continuous sea-level observations with tide gauges built in certain places along the coast. This study analyses seismic data derived from different international earthquake catalogues - NEIC, ISC, EMSC, IDC and Bulgarian national catalogue (1981 - 2019). A catalogue of earthquakes within the period covering the historical to the contemporary seismicity with magnitudes M ≥ 3 is compiled. The data are processed applying the software package ZMAP, developed by Stefan Wiemer (http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/en/research-and-teaching/products-software/software/ZMAP/index.html). The catalogues' completeness is calculated to assess the reliability of the historical data needed to assess the risk of rare tsunami events. The prevailing part of the earthquakes' epicentres are in the seismically active regions of Shabla, the Crimean peninsula, the east and southeast coast of the Black Sea forming six main clusters, which confirmed previous studies in the region. In these areas, several active and potentially active faults, which can generate tsunamigenic seismic events, are recognized.</p><p><strong>Acknowledgements: </strong>The authors would like to thank the Bulgarian National Science Fund for co-funding the research under the Contract КП-СЕ-КОСТ/8, 25.09.2020, which is carried out within framework of COST Action 18109 “Accelerating Global science In Tsunami HAzard and Risk analysis” (AGITHAR; https://www.agithar.uni-hamburg.de/).</p>


Author(s):  
George Gotsiridze

The work, on the one hand, highlights the mission of Europe, as an importer of knowledge, which has for centuries been the center of gravity for the whole world, and, on the other hand, the role of the Black Sea Region, as an important part of the Great Silk Road, which had also for a long time been promoting the process of rap-prochement and exchange of cultural values between East and West peoples, until it became the ‘inner lake’ of the Ottoman Empire, and today it reverts the function of rapproching and connecting civilizations. The article shows the importance of the Black Sea countries in maintaining overall European stability and in this context the role of historical science. On the backdrop of the ideological confrontation between Georgian historians being inside and outside the Iron Curtain, which began with the foundation of the Soviet Union, the research sheds light on the merit of the Georgian scholars-in-exile for both popularization of the Georgian culture and science in Eu-rope and for importing advanced (European) scientific knowledge to Georgia. Ex-change of knowledge in science and culture between the Black Sea region and Europe will enrich and complete each other through impact and each of them will have unique, inimitative features.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 323-338
Author(s):  
Nino Abakelia

Abstract The subject under scrutiny is Sephardic and Ashkenazi synagogues in Batumi (the Black Sea Region of Georgia) that reveal both universal and culturally specific forms. The paper is based on ethnographic data gathered during fieldwork in Batumi, in 2019, and on the theoretical postulates of anthropology of infrastructure. The article argues that the Batumi synagogues could be viewed and understood as ‘infrastructure’ in their own right, as they serve as objects through which other objects, people, and ideas operate and function as a system. The paper attempts to demonstrate how the sacred edifices change their trajectory according to modern conditions and how the sacred place is inserted and coexists inside a network of touristic infrastructure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 639-648
Author(s):  
E. S. Chelebieva ◽  
N. V. Dantsyuk ◽  
K. A. Chekanov ◽  
I. N. Chubchikova ◽  
I. V. Drobetskaya ◽  
...  

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