Transport infrastructure of the Azov and Black Seas the turn of the 40’s – 50’s of the XIX century (based on Austrian consular reports)

Abstract

The purpose of the presented work is to consider the state of transport infrastructure of the Azov and Black Seas at the turn of the 40s – 50s of the XIX century. When considering the proposed topic, the definition of the concept of "transport infrastructure" proposed by Ukrainian scientists O. Bordun and A. Zabarylo was based. According to them, the transport infrastructure is "a set of structures, systems of networks of all modes of transport that meet the needs of the population and production in the transportation of passengers and goods." The published reports of the Austrian consuls were used as a source. The Habsburg Empire showed a keen interest in the Black Sea-Azov trade and shipping. A practical confirmation of this interest was the large number of consulates opened by Vienna in the Black and Azov Seas at the turn of the 1840s and 1850s, namely in Bucharest, Constantinople (Istanbul), Iasi, Odessa, Galati, Ruschuk ( modern Bulgarian city of Ruse), Trabzon, Balti, Braila (it was called in the then Austrian sources in the Turkish style – Ibraila), Izmail, Kerch, Taganrog, Berdyansk, Mariupol, Feodosia, Tulcea, Vidin, Trape Sinopi and Erzurum (now the Turkish city of Erzurum). These institutions were designed to provide information on the terms of trade and shipping of the respective districts, which resulted in the production of a significant number of extremely interesting reports; to represent and defend the interests of Austrian traders and navigators and, if necessary, to provide them with protection and support. Based on the material presented in the article, it is stated that the lively economic boom of the Northern Black Sea and the Azov Sea is due to the administrative measures of the imperial administration of Russia and its imperial policy towards the Ottoman port. The latter manifested itself, in particular, in the squeezing out of the Ottomans the expansion of freedom of trade and navigation, which benefited both other European states and those who were on the border of the Russian-Ottoman confrontation. Such as the Danube principalities, which after 1829 gained autonomy. This, of course, was the factor that explained the sharp improvement in maritime transport infrastructure, which manifested itself in the rise of cities and their ports such as Taganrog, Mariupol and Berdyansk in the Sea of Azov, Odessa on the Black Sea and Galati and Braila on the Danube. In fact, at this time, only the geographical conditions and insufficient productivity of the surrounding areas could have limited the growth of ports and cities. This, in particular, affected the ports of Azov and Danube and most clearly the Crimean. As for the indigenous territories of the Ottomans of the Anatolian coast, the North Black Sea impulse came here only in the 30s of the XIX century. During these years, Istanbul gradually gave advice to the local jerks and began to pay attention to the local economy. But the key factor that hindered the disclosure of all the potential of the transport infrastructure of the Azov and Black Seas was the lack of a sound communication base, in fact, the complete neglect of dirt roads. And this is what united the coasts of the seas, regardless of whether it was the Turkish or some other Black Sea or Azov coast. Waterways could partially compensate for the lack of overland roads, as was the case with Odessa, which acted as a transport magnet for the territories above the Dniester and Dnieper and Taganrog with its exit through Rostov-on-Don to the Don and through the Ivankiv Canal to the Volga. Undoubtedly, the situation in the Danube ports of Galati and Braila was the best in this respect, if we do not take into account the complexity of the Sulina estuary. It is on the waterways of the transport infrastructure of the Black and Azov Seas in the period under review, ie before the appearance of railways, that we observe modernization trends. We mean the development of shipping, both sea and river.