Engineering the Lower Danube: Technology and Territoriality in an Imperial Borderland, Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

The Lower Danube was transformed during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by military conflicts, peace treaties, and the expansionist tendencies of the Habsburg and British Empires, leading to the regulation of the river by transnational actors. This book explores the formation of international cooperation, the emergence of technical expertise, and the emergence of engineering as a profession, making the Lower Danube a laboratory for experimenting with new forms of international cooperation, economic integration, and nature transformation.

Format: Hardback
Length: 348 pages
Publication date: 05 January 2023
Publisher: Central European University Press

The Lower Danube, stretching from the Romanian-Serbian border to the confluence with the Black Sea, underwent significant transformation during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Luminita Gatejel argues that remaking two key stretches—the Iron Gates and the delta—not only physically altered the river but also redefined it in a legal and political sense. The area's sovereignty was shaped by military conflicts and peace treaties, with the expansionist tendencies of the Habsburg and British Empires encountering rival Ottoman and Russian imperial plans. The inconvenience of the river's physical shape hindered free navigation and the growth of commercial traffic, prompting all parties to address this issue. This book highlights the role of transnational actors, such as engineers, commissioners, and entrepreneurs, in driving river regulation. Gatejel explores the formation of international cooperation, the emergence of technical expertise, and the emergence of engineering as a profession. The Lower Danube became a laboratory for experimenting with new forms of international cooperation, economic integration, and nature transformation.

Weight: 654g
Dimension: 157 x 237 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789633865798