The Black Sea lies between the countries of Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The Black Sea was navigated and its shores colonized by the Greeks as early as the eighth century before Christ and later by the Romans in the third to first centuries BC Many of the colonial and commercial activities of ancient Greece and Rome, and of the Byzantine Empire, centered on the Black Sea. After 1453 AD, when the Ottoman Turks occupied Constantinople, the Black Sea was virtually closed to foreign commerce. Nearly 400 years later, in 1856, the Treaty of Paris re-opened the sea to the ships of all nations.
Among its vast historical riches, the Black Sea region is home to the legend of Jason and the Argonauts and their search for the Golden Fleece, and the Biblical account of Noah's Ark. From the Crusades to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Black Sea has witnessed religious and political change. In the face of countless conquests through the ages, the people of the region have endured, and today represent a remarkable mixture of cultures and religions.
Join Phyllis, Martha and me as we set sail on a voyage of discovery aboard the Oceania
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