Maritime areas, ports and sea routes: defining space and connectivity between Malta and the Eastern Mediterranean 1770-1820

Abstract

The numerous ships that arrived in Malta from eastern Mediterranean points of origin and were recorded systematically in the quarantine and arrival registers [henceforth QR] of Malta reveal an intense maritime traffic (1770-1815). They reveal a substantial connection between a large number of eastern Mediterranean commercial nodes and ports and the port of Malta. These ports and nodes were dotted over a wide geographical expanse, they differed widely in scale and importance, and presented different economic profiles, that changed and evolved along the years. Some rose from nothing, like the Black Sea port of Odessa. Some expanded in their operation, others contracted and declined. Some were massive trading hubs, like Smyrna, Salonica and Alexandria, with a wide range of far-flung sea and land connections, and from where hundreds of sailing voyages started, some of which found themselves sailing into the port of Malta. These hubs dealt with equally massive amounts of cargo consisting of a wide diversity of products that originated from proximal and distant locations in their extensive hinterlands. Others, like a number of locations that dotted the coasts of Epirus, the gulf of Arta, on the western coast of Greece, or the Gulf of Patras were mere beaches; landings that served as an outlet for a local product. At the latter, mariners anchored or beached their small vessels to take on board cargo that was limited in both variety and quantity. These places were often the source of single voyages. Some insight into a hierarchy of scale is necessary. It is the intention of the present paper to shed light on the nature, importance and size of this connection.