FRENCH FRAISSINET COMPANY AND ITS ACTIVITIES IN THE OTTOMAN PORTS

The Fraissinet Company occupy an important place for French expansionism and colonialism in the Ottoman port cities and transoceanic. It was one of the three leading French companies conducting activities in the Ottoman waters. The company has played an important role in spreading the French capital since 1863 in Marseilles, Alexandria, and Syrian coastal cities on the one side, and Smyrne, Thessaloniki and Constantinople on the other. From 1878 onwards, it expanded its activities to the ports of Black Sea and Lower Danube. The company became a monopoly on maritime transport, especially between Marseille and the port cities of Lower Danube. The only French company that was active between 1890-1914 in the transport services between Lower Danube and Marseilles was Fraissinet Company. This study aims to examine the founding process of the Fraissinet Company and its activities in the Ottoman waters