Karadeniz'de Âyanlar ve Denizcilik
Ayans and Maritime in the Black Sea

Summary/Abstract: The ayans, who emerged in the Anatolian and Rumelian provinces of the Ottoman Empire as a class, and who became a balancing power towards the central authority and its provincial representatives, enjoyed their most powerful period in the Eastern Black Sea region at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. This period was also when the Black Sea region opened to the international maritime trade, which led to establishment of several seaports in the Eastern Black Sea coasts of Turkey. This study deals with maritime activities of the regional ayans, just before and during the first steamship cruises entered the Eastern Black Sea. Our aim is to discuss effects of the decentralization in maritime sector then, and to see interest of the ayans in maritime activities, as well as to discover effects of steamship cruises on local navigation in this context.

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