Княжеското търговско агентство в Дедеагач - експеримент в българската външна и икономическа политика (1897–1901)
The Bulgarian Trade Agency in Dedeagach – an Experiment in the Bulgarian Foreign and Economic policy (1897–1901)

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the creation of the Bulgarian Trade Agency in Dedeagach as an experiment in the Bulgarian foreign and economic policy at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. It regards the initiative as an attempt to expand the economic influence of the Principality of Bulgaria in European Turkey in the middle of the Eastern Crisis (1894-1898). Despite the public opinion, which favored a military solution to the Bulgarian national question, the prime minister Dr. Konstantin Stoilov decided to stay neutral and to use the crisis to strengthen the economic ties between the two countries. The Agency functioned only 4 years - from 1897 to 1901, when it was closed due to financial difficulties of the Principality. The Author uses the official correspondence of the Trade Agency with the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the local authorities and private companies to trace the activity of the commercial agent Konstantin Hadzhidimitrov and to show the main problems of the traders and entrepreneurs in the Ottoman empire. The paper presents case studies, which show the complicated trade relations in the Balkans, and seeks an answer to the question if the Bulgarian experiment was successful.

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