An inland sea located between southeast Europe and western Asia that borders Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia and covers approximately 180,000 square miles with an average depth of over 4,200 feet but reaching depths of 7,250 feet in the central area.
The Black Sea is connected with the Mediterranean Sea by way of the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, while the Kerch Strait links it with the Sea of Azov. The principal rivers that drain into it, the Danube, Dniester, Southern Buh, Dnieper, Rioni, and Kizil Irmak, carry in 120 square miles of freshwater every year and a sediment load with a considerable amount of pollutants.
From the seventh to fifth centuries B.C.E., Greek colonies established in the coastal areas engaged in intensive trade with local tribes, the Scythians and Sarmatians, and the metropolis. The Achaemenian empire of Persia dominated Anatolia until the fourth century, when Greek Macedonians under Alexander the Great conquered the region. In the first century C.E., this entire area became part of the Roman and later the Byzantine empire. After the Romans withdrew from the northern Black Sea, the population fell prey to various tribes, including the Goths, Huns, and later Slavs, Khazars, proto-Bulgarians, Polovets, and others. In the ninth century, the Vikings penetrated this area by establishing a trade route linking the Black Sea with Scandinavia.
From the seventh to tenth centuries, the Black Sea became the focus of long-distance trade between northwestern Europe and Russia with the Byzantine empire, Arab caliphate, and Persia. In the eleventh and twelve centuries, the Seljuk (Ottoman) Turks, which totally transfigured the world trade, gradually conquered Anatolia. In 1453, the Turks seized Constantinople, and in the fifteenth century the Ottoman empire controlled the entire Black Sea basin. Starting in the seventeenth century, Russia increasingly penetrated the Black Sea. Since the late eighteenth century, Russia had established its total hegemony over its northern part, with Odessa becoming Russia’s major trade outlet focused on the export of grain.
Following World War II, Soviet Russia enhanced its political and economic dominance over the Black Sea area; only Turkey escaped its control. The fabric of world trade completely changed in 1991 with the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Romania, and Ukraine and Georgia gaining independence. At present, Odessa and Nikolayev are Ukraine’s major ports, and Sevastopol is its naval base (owned jointly with Russia). Russia’s ports are Novorossiysk (an oil terminal) and Tuapse. Other major ports are Constantsa in Romania; Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria; Trabzon, Samsun, and Zonguldak in Turkey; and Poti and Batumi in Georgia.
Pollution of the Black Sea is a major concern of its surrounding nations, who have started several cooperative projects aimed at environmental protection. In 1989, eleven countries—Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine—signed the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Pact with the wider goal of promoting greater democracy, peace, and development in the Black Sea region, as well as establishing safeguards against future environmental problems.
Pavel Dolukhanov
See also: Alexander the Great.
Ascherson, Neal. Black Sea. London: Jonathan Cape, 1995.
Dolukhanov, Pavel. Environment and Ethnicity in the Ancient Near East. Aldershot, UK: Avebury, 1994.