Bibliographic Guide
The purpose of the present database is to collect and record bibliography which is relevant to “paroikiakos” Hellenism. With the term “paroikiakos” Hellenism or Greek Diaspora we refer to the permanent or long term settlement of the Greeks outside the borders of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the regions under the Venetian rule and the Greek state, which resulted from their movement along with the movement of other populations of the Balkan Peninsula.
This movement and settlement could be divided into three chronological periods:
- 15th - 16th century
- 17th - 19th century
- 19th - 20th century
The period that has been chosen for this first bibliographical data base extends from the 15th to the 19th century. It was during that period that Greek migration and establishment of communities or commercial enterprises is witnessed in the cities of the Italian peninsula, Central and Western Europe, Southern Russia and Egypt. At this stage of the project, we have only occasionally included books that refer to movement population and migration but go beyond the aforementioned chronological limits.
These movements of the Greek population through time had propagated the intercourse with the European world. Daniel Philippides and Gregory Konstantas stated in their work ‘Neoteriki Geografia (1791)” that: “The location of Greece which is in-between the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa, in the midst – if I may say- of the old world, can facilitate the mix of people.” It is Europe, Western Europe in particular, the region with which the Orthodox Graikoi, Romioi would be in constant intercourse, the region in which they would set up their economic and maritime enterprises. It is this region which they consciously distinguished from the Ottoman environment and the East, where they used to live. Hydriotes’ ships “travel to Europe, Captain Christodoulos returning from Europe, comes to Hydra. “
Sources for the study of this phenomenon are the local archives of the communities, founded by the paroikoi at the destination regions, the state archives of the host countries, statutes of the communities and school regulations, newspapers, journals, memoires as well as private economic archives, archives of mercantile and insurance enterprises, etc. In the recent years, bibliography on this phenomenon has impressively increased and this precisely is the purpose of our project: to bring out its richness. Thus, the following data base aims mostly to provide the researcher with online bibliographical information rather than, abiding strictly to bibliographical rules, record and classify the information.
This bibliographical guide is the fruit of a project carried out under the supervision of Olga – Katsiardi Hering, professor in the Department of History, Faculty of History and Archaeology, School of Philosophy of the University of Athens. The project was initially funded by the Special Account for Research Grants (Kapodistrias Program). The research team consisted of the post graduate students, Ioannes Kolovos, Dimitrios Kontogeorgis and Ikaros Mantouvalos. The internet data base was designed by computer programming specialists, Nikos Apostolakis and Michael Papas. Its final elaboration was included in the recently authorized by the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, research program Pythagoras II under the title: “ Greek Communities and the European World, 13th- 19th century. Patterns of Self Administration, Social Organization, Identities’ Formation”. The program was supervised by members of the academic staff: professors Olga Katsiardi Hering, Anastasia Papadia Lala and the assistant professor Maria Efthimiou. The transcription of bibliography was mainly based on the principle of autopsy. On occasion, however, we have consulted bibliography cited in famous works on the subject. In that case, we give -at the relevant entry - the full reference of the book that the information has been taken from.
