Book Description

This book addresses the various factors leading to the formation, operation and development of the merchant fleet of the British-protected Ionian State and focuses on the significance of Ionian shipping for the division of labor in the Mediterranean and European maritime trade during the nineteenth century. The ports of the Ionian State played a significant role in the Mediterranean trade routes. The author presents the factors that allowed to the regional commercial shipping of a small state that was under foreign protection, as was the Ionian State, to operate autonomously and effectively in the competitive environment of the Mediterranean Sea. Owing to the successful commercial activity of the Ionians, their tiny insular State emerged as one of the most important maritime centers of the European seas of mid-nineteenth century.