Foreign merchant businesses and the integration of the Black and Azov Seas of the Russian Empire into the First global economy

This article is a study of merchant businesses of different ethno-religious backgrounds, especially of Greek and Jewish, involved in grain trade of the Black sea and the southern provinces of the Russian Empire and the interrelation between their business organization and practices and the integration of this region into the international economy of the 19th century. It draws upon the historical discussion on the role of merchant firms in the creation of the first global economy. I use the case of the Black Sea to emphasize on the organization and strategies of different merchant groups and the competitive patterns between them, within the geographical, institutional and technological context in the course of the 19th century, as a crucial factor in the expansion of grain trade with the Western European markets.