The Danube has always been a border and a bridge. Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, commercial networks were formed between the Ottoman Empire and Central and Eastern Europe creating diaspora communities and connecting the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Continental world of commerce.

Olga Katsiardi-Hering, Ph.D (1984), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, is Professor of Modern Greek History at the same university. She has published monographs, co-edited six collective volumes, and is the author of numerous articles on Greek Diaspora, Enlightenment, Migration, the European Idea, Family History, Economic History.
Maria A. Stassinopoulou, Ph.D. (1990) and Habilitation (2001) at the University of Vienna, is Professor of Modern Greek Studies at the same university. She has published a monograph, co-edited five collective volumes, and is the author of numerous articles on Cultural and Intellectual History, Migration History, and Film Studies with a focus on Greece and Southeastern Europe.