The aim of the Mediterranean Maritime History Network is to bring together scholars studying the maritime history of the Mediterranean Sea and its linkages to the world. It organizes every four years a conference in order to communicate, interact and exchange information on research and bibliography.
University of Zadar, Department of History announces the 7th International Conference of the Mediterranean Maritime History Network (MMHN), which will take place at the University of Zadar in Zadar from the 25th to the 29th of May 2026.
The concept of the conference in based on a re-invention of Frank Broeze’s definition of maritime history. Five categories of analysis which can form a methodology for the analysis of the maritime history of the sea are suggested. It can also be used for a fragment of a sea, for a maritime region, a maritime community, a thematic approach of a maritime activity for a short period, or a long period. One can pick one or two or any category that one chooses at any given period of time. However, any analysis of a sea should take under consideration the inter-connections of the five categories to understand its influence. Because the sea has been and has remained the only natural element that people can use to circumnavigate and connect the world transferring its produce on a massive scale.
The five categories are defined by what humans did: on the sea (seamen, ships, navigation, sea trade, war, piracy); around the sea (maritime communities, islands, port cities, shipping, shipping-related, fishing and touristic businesses), in the sea (fishing, maritime resources, environment); because of the sea (maritime transport systems and entrepreneurial networks, maritime empires, international and national maritime institutions and policy) and about the sea (the maritime culture and heritage, the ideology, the myths and poems of a sea, the impact of the sea on the art). Through these five categories one can follow continuity and change and can see how humankind interact with the sea and affect the path of history at land.
The MMHN has a long tradition of bringing together scholars who study the maritime history of the Mediterranean Sea and its linkages to the world. We welcome papers that explore the relationship between humans and the sea in all its facets: on the sea (seamen, ships, navigation, sea trade, war, piracy); around the sea (maritime communities, islands, port cities, shipping, shipping-related, fishing and touristic businesses); in the sea (fishing, marine resources, environment); because of the sea (maritime transport systems and entrepreneurial networks, maritime empires, international and national maritime institutions and policy); and about the sea (the maritime culture and heritage, the ideology, the myths and poems of a sea, the impact of the sea on art).
If you are interested in participating, we kindly request that you submit a title and an abstract of no more than 300 words, accompanied by a brief biographical note of 200 words, no later than September 30th, 2025. If you would like to present a panel (3-4 speakers), please send the individual abstracts into one file, providing a title and an abstract for the panel topic of no more than 200 words.
Submissions in English are welcome and should be sent to: mmhn.zadar@gmail.com
