Özgür YILMAZ

The changes seen in the commerce of the 19 th century revealed the key role of steamships. Although early commercial enterprises of Europeans in the Southern Black Sea begun with sailing vessels, the appearance of first steamship in 1836 had completely changed the nature of maritime activities. European states holding the steamship technology dominated a large part of the Black Sea maritime in a short time. But, in such a competition, the Ottoman navigation tried to survive in the Black Sea. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the beginning and the development of European steamship maritime in the Black Sea and to reveal the status of Turkish maritime across the European dominance in the southern Black Sea ports in the 19th century. The main sources of the study are French and British consular sources.

Keywords: The Black Sea, 19 th Century, European navigation, Steamships, Trabzon