Concessions and Mirages along the Lower Danube: The Town of Silistria in the Plans of Foreign Railway Promoters during the mid-1850s

Abstract

The paper focuses on three railway schemes from 1856 to 1857 that included the town of Silistria in their routes: the Varna and Silistria Railway, the Danube and Black Sea Railway, and the Medjidieh Railway. The primary aim of these rival projects’ promoters was to engage in Danube and Black Sea grain production and trade. Thus, such infrastructures were designed to supplement other railway schemes along the Lower Danube and the Black Sea region, as well as in neighboring countries. As a result of their competition, urban centers along the Lower Danube, such as Silistria, featured at the center of Ottoman and Transottoman infrastructure enterprises during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Keywords

• railways
• Ottoman Empire
• Silistria
• Varna and Silistria Railway
• the Danube and the Black Sea Railway
• Medjidieh Railway

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