THE LEVANT AND EUROPE: SHIPPING AND TRADE Networks of People and Knowledge The Levantine Heritage Foundation 2nd International Conference | London | 2-4.11.2016 PROGRAMME & PARTICIPANT INFORMATION Follow us at #LevantineHF www.levantineheritage.com [email protected] Cover image View of Constantinople, Konstantinos Kaldis, 1851 The Levantine Heritage Foundation Advancing research, preservation and education in the heritage, arts and culture of communities in the Levant region The Levantine Heritage Foundation, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, UK The Levantine Heritage Foundation is a non-profit association with a constitution pre- pared and adopted according to the guidelines of The Charity Commission for England and Wales. www.levantineheritage.com/ Trustees: Quentin Compton-Bishop, Philip Mansel FRHS, Jonathan Beard, Axel Çorlu, Kalliopi Amygdalou, Zeynep Cebeci Suvari, Nuri Çolakoğlu. General Secretary: Craig Encer 2 Contents Welcome Note by the Chairman of 5 the LHF Organizers 7 Practical Information 11 LHF Travel Awards 11 Venues and Maps 13 Programme 17 Abstracts & Speakers’ Biographies 23 3 4 Welcome to the I would like to take the opportu- nity to revisit the objectives of the Second International Levantine Heritage Foundation LHF Conference (LHF). The LHF was set up in 2010 in London with the aims of promoting educa- tion and research in the history and cultural heritage of the Levantine communities, preserving that herit- Welcome to the second interna- age and making it accessible for tional conference organised by the future generations worldwide. Levantine Heritage Foundation. The definition of who should be The first three-day conference “The considered as “Levantines” is usu- Levantines: Commerce and Diplo- ally a subject of debate at such macy”, held in Istanbul in 2014, conferences. In the context of the proved a great success. Over 200 LHF’s mission, the Levantines were delegates attended to hear more people, some of European origin, than 30 papers. Networking events whose long-term domicile was in and tours of sites of Levantine in- the Eastern Mediterranean within terest in Istanbul added to the mix. the former boundaries of the Ot- Much was learned, distant cousins toman Empire. Many came to the discovered and new friends made. Levant to seek their livelihoods in various ways, as traders, build- This second conference, which we ers, farmers, miners and even as hope will become a biennial se- soldiers and government officials of ries, highlights trade as the central the Ottoman Empire. Some came dynamic in the creation of a Levan- as refugees from troubled parts of tine world, with complex economic Europe. Others came as diplomats networks giving rise to equally and shipping agents, bridging the complex social, cultural, political interfaces between the major trad- and material interactions. ing nations of the world and the cities of the Levant. Although the Levant has been part of Eurasian trade networks for mil- Our research is on every aspect of lennia, it played an increasingly their culture and heritage, includ- central role during the creation of ing genealogy, economic employ- the modern world. The expan- ment, architecture, cuisine, the arts sion of capitalism, accompanied by and society. Cities were the great imperialism, nationalism and the epicentres of Levantine life and movement of people through the business – Salonika, Alexandria, Levant helped shape the world as Beirut, Jaffa, Aleppo, Smyrna and we know it. The essential “engine of Constantinople, as they were then. history” in most of these historical London was a hub for the Levantine dynamics was trade, providing the trade with Europe and so it is fitting material exchanges and networks, that this second conference shifts which in turn generated an array of the aspect of our studies and takes social and cultural interactions. The place in London. programme covers many topics, which I hope you find interesting. The LHF carries out its charitable 5 mission by bringing together oversubscribed. researchers, both professional academics and amateurs, to share None of this would be possible with- their research on these historic out the contributions in their dif- communities, and by making it ferent ways of the LHF’s members, accessible. Indeed, the LHF was supporters, trustees and volun- founded on the back of the suc- teers. Our major financial sup- cess of the remarkable collection of porters are listed in this programme Levantine family testimonials put and I wish to thank them here. together by our General Secretary, Please take note of them and if you Craig Encer, and preserved on the meet them thank them again. My website www.levantineheritage. thanks also to the many individuals com. We continue to be very grate- who have helped us in the devel- ful to Craig for his huge contribu- opment and delivery of our objec- tion to the website and for facilitat- tives over the past two years and in ing the interactions between our preparing for this conference. network around the world. Finally, I would also like to highlight We are also extremely grateful for the generosity of our hosts, Europe the contributions of papers and House and the Hellenic Centre, who family archive material made by have provided their splendid facili- colleagues and family researchers. ties and the support of their teams Without this collaborative effort, for this conference. the LHF’s contribution to knowledge would be severely limited. Our We plan to highlight the Greek ambition is to continue to build on connection with the Levant in 2018 this reserve of material, providing when this conference will be held in a safe home for it electronically in Athens. the near-term and one day, funds and owners permitting, enabling I hope you enjoy the conference researcher and public access to and I look forward to meeting as original records. If you would like many of you as possible. to support us in this mission in any way, please contact me or Craig or Quentin Compton-Bishop one of our Trustees. Chairman The Levantine Heritage Foundation Between conferences we have been busy with other events. In Sep- tember, I was delighted to attend the excellent conference organised by the LHF’s Istanbul Group. It was supported enthusiastically by the Beyoğlu Municipality, which covers the districts known to Levantines as Pera and Galata in Istanbul, and took place in the Italian Institute of Culture (one of our hosts also in 2014). It attracted a large audience and the tours on the third day were 6 Organizers Conference venues LHF Board Quentin Compton-Bishop (Chair- man) Craig Encer (General Secretary) Philip Mansel (Trustee) Jonathan Beard (Trustee) Axel Çorlu (Trustee) 2016 Conference sponsors Kalliopi Amygdalou (Trustee) Zeynep Cebeci Suvari (Trustee) John and Aylin McCarthy (sponsors of the Nuri Çolakoğlu (Trustee) opening reception at the Oriental Club) Web design & Digital Archive Craig Encer (Trustee) Consolidated International Agencies Quentin Compton-Bishop is a former diplomat, Middle East Quentin Compton-Bishop specialist, entrepreneur and now CEO of Warwick Ventures, which commercialises research from the General LHF sponsors University of Warwick. Researching his Levantine family background, which includes Izmir and Beirut, led him to the Levantine Heritage inter- est group and its many dedicated academic and amateur researchers, We thank also a number of donors who and into the history of the Levant wish to remain anonymous region. This led him to become one of the founding Trustees and the first Chairman of the Levantine Her- itage Foundation with its charitable Past sponsors mission to promote education and research in the history and cultural heritage of the Levant and to sup- port its preservation for the benefit of future generations. Craig Encer lived and worked in Turkey most of his life and in doing so was often reminded of the ves- tiges of the rich multicultural past, evident in diverse aspects of life there, from architecture to cuisine, to stories told to him by old people in the back-streets of Beyoğlu. 7 Official history, as in most coun- Ottoman Empire and the powers tries, has always ignored that of Europe; and the political impor- mixture to provide a nation-based tance of cities. He has lived in Paris, narrative that led to widespread Istanbul and Beirut, lectures in misconceptions of the contribu- the UK and abroad. He is currently tions of minorities, not least the writing a life of Louis XIV. His latest Levantines. This desire by Craig to book is Aleppo: the Rise and Fall of go deeper into the stories of the Syria’s Great Merchant City (2016). past led to a personal research In 2012 he won the London Library that stretched from local libraries Life in Literature award. He is a to cemeteries, to chatty descend- Fellow of the Institute of Historical ants and the then often overlooked Research, London, and a founding academic researchers, over the trustee of the Levantine Heritage late 1990s. The website was born Foundation. For further information initially in 2004, merely to share see www. philipmansel.com the findings on Levantines, pos- sibly the most misunderstood of the minorities of the Levant. As this Jonathan Beard was born in Bei- website created slowly but surely rut, Lebanon, of a Levantine family its own followers, who subsequently of British extraction. He received became contributors, the wheel of his education in England and Swit- creating an accessible database for zerland where he developed his reference and inspiration began to love for winter sports and moun- turn. With the encouragement of taineering. friends, the idea of bringing togeth- After university he joined the Ca- er contributors, academics, commu- toni group, a shipping and trading nity members and the general pub- enterprise. He was elected to the lic grew, and the first Symposium board in 1990 and has served as took place in Izmir, in November chairman since 2004.