A number of historians working on Mediterranean maritime history met at the Third International Congress of Maritime History in Esbjerg, Denmark, in August 2000, and decided on a number of measures to try to bring scholars working in the this area of study closer together. The principal aim of the MMHN is to act as a clearinghouse for the exchange of information concerning research currently underway relating to Mediterranean maritime history topics. The MMHN centres on the period from the thirteenth century to the twentieth century and subscribes to a wide concept of maritime history to include the following categories:

1. The use of the resources of the sea and what lies beneath it, including fishing and related activities, and the economic and social life of the communities dependent upon them.

2. The sea as a means of communication, namely the carriage of people, goods and ideas, and the structures associated with this phenomenon, such as ports and the communities within which these are lodged. This category is the broadest in maritime history and includes: sea-borne trade; shipping in all its facets, as well as ancillary institutions such as insurance, finance and registers; navigation; sea-related labour; island and port communities; and so on.

3. The sea as a medium for the projection of power. This means naval power, strategy and technology; government policies relating to the control of the sea and its resources; as well as commerce-raiding, corsairing and piracy.

4. The use of the sea for scientific purposes via oceanography, climatology and so on, as well as government policies regarding marine science and technology in a historical perspective.

5. The sea as a space for leisure. This refers, first and foremost, to the Mediterranean's premier economic activity, namely tourism. The sea and the coast conceived as a regenerative environment and a focus for recreation in general and the practice of aquatic sports in particular.

6. Last but not least, the sea as a source of inspiration in culture and ideology: this includes, for example, the role of the sea in art and literature, as well as the sea in a nation’s self-image.

1 st MMHN Conference (Valletta, Malta 2002)
A first conference, held in Valletta, Malta, in April 2002, brought together more than thirty researchers from Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Malta, and was particularly useful as a meeting place for researchers from the French and English speaking worlds. Indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, one could say that it constituted an informal, regional pre-conference for the Fourth Maritime History Congress held in Corfu in 2004.

Journal of Mediterranean Studies No. 12/2
From the Malta conference there emerged a publication, a Special Issue of the Journal of Mediterranean Studies (Volume 12, No. 2, Year 2002), containing a selection of papers from the conference by Alain Blondy, Salvatore Bottari, Sadok Boubaker, Michela D'Angelo, Michel Fonteney, Thomas Freller, Henry Frendo, Ruthy Gertwagen, Simon Mercieca, Gerassimos Pagratis, and Daniel Panzac.

Directory of Mediterranean Maritime Historians  
The first meeting in Malta also called for the preparation of a Directory of Mediterranean Maritime Historians setting out the name, contact details and research interests of those working in this field of endeavour, to facilitate exchanges between scholars. The present Directory of Mediterranean Maritime Historians sets out information on nearly 200 historians working in the field of Mediterranean maritime history from nearly two dozen different countries. It is periodically updated with new additions and fresh details as these become available. It can be accessed at http://home.um.edu.mt/medinst/mmhn/1_mmhn_directory.pdf

Research in Maritime History No. 28
Another consequence of the setting up of the MMHN, and what probably constitutes the culmination of the measures taken subsequent to the Esbjerg 2000 decision to organize and give more prominence to the Mediterranean and its maritime historians, is Volume 28 of Research in Maritime History. Entitled New Directions in Maritime History, and edited by Gelina Harlaftis and Carmel Vassallo and published in 2005, it looks at the bibliography on maritime history produced in recent decades in Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, and Israel.

2nd MMHN Conference (Messina/Taormina, Italy 2006)
The 2nd MMHN Conference, organized at Messina and Taormina, in Sicily in May 2006, brought together nearly 100 papers on a wide range of topics relating to the maritime history of the Mediterranean by scholars from Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The event was characterised by the participation of many up-and-coming young researchers and impeccable hospitality from Professor Michela D’Angelo and her team.

Anglo-Saxons in the Mediterranean
One of the best attended sessions at the Fourth Maritime History Congress held in Corfu in 2004 was Anglo-Saxons in the Mediterranean. A publication bearing that same name, edited by Carmel Vassallo and Michela D’Angelo, was published at the beginning of 2007 with a selection of papers from the congress (Salvatore Bottari, Rosario Lentini, Michela D’Angelo, Tito Benady, Carmel Vassallo, Gigliola Pagano de Devitiis, Rosario Battaglia, Sergio Di Giacomo and Miquel Casasnovas Camps) and others who were invited to contribute (David De Vries, Colin Heywood, Klearchos Kyriakides and Gerassimos Pagratis).

Journal of Mediterranean Studies No. 16/1  
A Special Issue of the Journal of Mediterranean Studies containing a selection of twenty papers and short communications in English and French has been published. It contains contributions by Seven Agir; Rosaria Bottari; L. Botter, O. Giovanardi and S. Raicevich; C.I. Chessel; Oliver Craig, Marco Biazzio and Mary Anne Tafuri; Diletta D’Andrea; Fabio P. Di Vita; Eric Dursteler; Mario Ellul; Jean Pierre Farganel; Ruthy Gertwagen; Ivan Grech; Maura Hametz; K. A. J. McLay; Katerina Papakonstantinou; Brian Sandberg; Maria Sirago; Salvatore Speziale; Athena Trakadas; and Carmel Vassallo. Complete Conference Proceedings will be published in Italian by the University of Messina.

3 rd MMHN Conference ( Izmir, Turkey 2010)  
The MMHN General Meeting held at Taormina decided to accept the offer made by the Izmir University of Economics of Izmir, Turkey to host our next conference in that historic city. Our hosts have kindly undertaken to “secure sponsorship and other support which will minimize the financial outlay of participants” as well as organize visits to places of archaeological and historical interest in Izmir and the surrounding area.

MMHN Website selected by INTUTE for inclusion in its online service
The University of Malta hosted website of the MMHN has been selected by the UK-based INTUTE for inclusion in its free online service providing access to “the very best Web resources for education and resources, selected and evaluated by a network of subject specialists. “ The service is provided by a consortium of UK universities and partners and is funded by the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee which provides world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT to support education and research.

The Historical and Legal Ties between the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean Islands
MMHN colleague Dr Klearchos A. Kyriakides, of the University of Hertfordshire, is organizing a one-day Conference to be entitled The Historical and Legal Ties between the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean Islands, to mark the publication of Anglo-Saxons in the Mediterranean. The Conference will take place in St. Albans, a former Roman city, on Thursday 17 th January 2008. The aim of the conference is to further explore British interest and involvement in the Mediterranean which continues up till the present day. Admission will be free and open to the public. For further details contact Dr. Kyriakides at k.a.kyriakides@herts.ac.uk or uhlaw-cpd@herts.ac.uk

 Maria Fusaro appointed Director of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Maritime Historical Studies.  
After a number of years at the University of Chicago, MMHN colleague Maria Fusaro has been appointed Director of the University of Exeter’s centre for Maritime Historical Studies where she is looking forward to building on the traditional strengths of the Centre in the area of British and Atlantic maritime and naval history whilst developing new research avenues that will raise the profile of Mediterranean studies in the UK. The first such initiative is a workshop scheduled for the 15-16 December 2007 entitled Caravane Maritime. Participants include MMHN colleagues Sadok Boubaker, Gelina Harlaftis, and Daniel Panzac, amongst others.

Fifth International Maritime History Congress
The Mediterranean is well represented in the draft programme of the Fifth International Maritime History Congress to be held in Greenwich, England between the 23 rd and the 27 th June 2008. No fewer than one in every four of the total of over 250 accepted proposals relate to various aspects of Mediterranean maritime history. Inevitably spearheaded by the indefatigable Gelina Harlaftis, whose efforts have placed Greece at the forefront of the renewal of maritime history in the Mediterranean in the last few years, the field has, nevertheless, widened somewhat to include scholars from other parts of the Mediterranean with the powerful 18-strong Greek contingent being joined by no fewer than 15 Italians, 6 Spaniards, 5 French, 4 Maltese, 2 Israelis, 1 Turk and 1 Croatian who will contribute towards making Mediterranean maritime history a more representative, albeit still predominantly European, pursuit.

The remarkable range of proposals should ensure that Greenwich University, already well-established as an important focus of research and teaching in this area, will become a Mecca for maritime historians during the last week of June 2008, although the relatively high registration fee, at ₤290 Sterling, or €420, for early bookers is somewhat stiff compared to the €150 at the 2004 Fourth International Maritime History Congress at Corfu and €100 at the 2 nd MMHN Conference at Messina/Taormina in 2006, and may prove problematic for some of our younger colleagues.

  
Dr Carmel Vassallo
Coordinator - Mediterranean Maritime History Network
01 October 2007