Comerţul de la Dunărea de Jos în relatarea lui Jacques Poumay

Abstract

This paper aims to verify and exploit the information provided by the Belgian consul in Bucharest in a report from June 1853, identified in the Archives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels, and yet unused by researchers. The account of the Belgian diplomat in Moldavia and Wallachia concerns the evolution of trade and navigation in the Romanian ports on the Danube throughout the year 1852. At the same time, the consul Jacques Poumay tried to draw the attention of the decision-makers in the young Belgian kingdom to the agricultural potential of the Romanian Principalities, the timid attempts of the authorities in Bucharest towards the modernization of the port of Giurgiu and its connection to the capital of Wallachia. Also mentioned are the causes of the relatively small number of merchants and ships under Belgian flag that carried out their activities in the ports of Braila and Galati. By representing a neutral state, the report of the Belgian consul (included in the appendix) looks objectively upon the social, political and economic realities from Moldavia and Wallachia prior to the outburst of the Crimean War (1853–1856).