The Rallis family, originating from Chios, is probably the most prominent Greek merchant family during the 19th century. Its members located in Britain, Trieste, Odessa and Constantinople (Istanbul), where they dominated the grain trade between the ports of the Black Sea and Western Europe. Since the middle of the 19th century, the Rallis house gradually withdrew from the Mediterranean and the Black Sea markets and expanded its business to Southern Asia and America.

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The Rodokanakis was one of the most prominent families of Chios, with a firm presence in the island’s social and economic life. Despite the fact that members of the family distinguished themselves in many ways, the family earned its name mainly because of the status the Rodokanakis' merchant house enjoyed. From the late 18th century the family expanded its commercial activity to the Black Sea; simultaneously, thanks to the extended network of representatives and associates in the main British...

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Rostov is situated on the banks of the Don, at the cove of the Azov Sea, near the port of Taganrog. From the middle of the 19th century, Rostov developed rapidly. This coincided with the relative decline in the ports of Odessa and Nikolayev. The presence of the Greeks in the Rostov wheat trade continued dynamically up to the Russian Revolution.

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The name Rus', used in Byzantine texts to refer to the early Russians, is a direct reflection of their self-definement. The participation and the influence of Rus’ in the political and economical issues of the Black Sea area, which happened around the same time as the consolidation and ascendance of the Kiev’s hegemony, lasted from the 9th century until the beginning of the 13th, at which point the expansion of the Mongols led to the fall of Kiev’s hegemony and the submission of the Russian...

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