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Le concept de « balkanisation » ainsi que le verbe dérivé « balkaniser », font partie de la culture politique occidentale depuis plus d’un siècle, sans que l’on se soit posé véritablement la question des circonstances précises qui virent naître et s’affirmer ce concept. C’est l’objectif que se propose l’auteur, en rappelant tout d’abord que les Balkans constituaient depuis l’Antiquité, à travers le Moyen Âge, et jusqu’à l’époque moderne, une zone de contact entre différentes aires religieuses, culturelles et politiques. Une attention toute particulière est ensuite consacrée à la période de domination ottomane et à celle des insurrections nationales dans les Balkans au cours du XIXe siècle. C’est précisément ces insurrections, suivies de constitutions de jeunes États indépendants, qui mobilisèrent le soutien et les sympathies des opinions publiques occidentales, mais aussi dans un deuxième temps, la méfiance des chancelleries occidentales qui, craignant le démembrement de l’Empire ottoman, dans le cadre de la résolution de la Question d’Orient, reprochaient à ces jeunes nations de « balkaniser », donc de démembrer, l’espace qu’elles occupaient, alors qu’en réalité, celles-ci étaient davantage victimes que protagonistes de cette politique de « balkanisation », promue par les grandes puissances dans leur propre intérêt. The concept of ‘Balkanization’, as well as the verb ‘to Balkanize’ have been adopted in the western political culture more than a century ago, without ever being questioned, neither on their origins, nor on the precise circumstances under which they have been adopted. The object of this paper is, first to underline that the Balkans have always been, from Late Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, until modern times, an area of contact and exchange between different cultures, religions and political systems. Then, special attention is drawn to the period of Ottoman rule in the Balkans, and the period of national revolutions in the 19t century. These national revolutions have been acclaimed by the Western public opinions. However, the Western governments did not share this enthusiasm because they feared for the future of the Ottoman Empire, and the perspective of its disintegration. Therefore, they often accused the young nations of disturbing the peaceful Ottoman rule. However, the Balkanization -i.e. the fragmentation of the Balkan Peninsula- was rather a consequence of the policy of great European powers in that region. These great powers, by pursuing their own selfish interests jeopardized, more than young Balkan nations the peace and security of South-Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Ragusan maritime network gradually developed from the ancient Venetian one, at the time of Venetian preponderance (1205-1358). But, at the end of the Venetian domination, the Ragusan network developed some characteristics of its own, presented in this contribution. The characteristics of the network are here presented through its four mains aspects: extension, ramification, temporality and dangerousness. In terms of extension, both in the East and in the West of the Mediterranean, the Ragusan maritime network had great similarities with the Venetian one. It is in terms of ramification, that the differences gradually appear.

The article investigates the processes by which a particular image of slavery was created and diffused in the Mediterranean basin. It draws upon notarial records from the archives of Dubrovnik and Barcelona, whichfurnish rich descriptions of the origins, names, character traits and physical anomalies of 'human merchandise' during the Middle Ages. The constitution of a particular image of slavery cannot be dissociated from politico-economic considerations that governed the working of medieval communes, nor does the conversion of the slave through baptism bring with it an automatic change in servile status.

Although the distance between the cities of the catalan coast and Dubrovnik is several hundred miles, these cities maintained, during the last centuries of the Middle Ages, intense economic relations. A great number of Catalans were leaving Barcelona, Tortosa, Tarragona and other impor­tant towns in the first place of the coast but also in the hinterland, in order to settle in Dubrovnik on the adriatic coast. This article deals, firstly, with the economic exchanges between the catalan towns and Dubrovnik,. but also with individual destinies of people from Catalonia who chose to live in the slavic town of Dubrovnik, far away from their homeland. The author has investigated essentially in the Archives of the Crown of Aragon, in Barce­lona, and in the Notarial Archives of the same city, as well as in the Archi­ves of Dubrovnik, in order to study the export of catalonian products to Dubrovnik (wool, in the first place) and the import from Dubrovnik to Catalonia (slaves, precious metal, timber, etc.). He also deals with lives of Catalans in Dubrovnik (their integration, their conflicts, etc.). The study is based on documents which allow good statistical evaluations on the nature and the tempo of exchanges. Bien que séparées par des centaines de milles d, espace maritime, les villes de la côte catalane et Dubrovnik entretenaient, à la fin du Moyen Age, d'intenses rapports économiques. Un grand nombre de Catalans se deplaçaient de Barcelone, Tortose, Tarragone et d'autres villes, principale­ment de la côte méditerranéenne, mais aussi de l'arrière-pays, pour aller s'installer dans la ville de Dubrovnik, sur la côte adriatique. Cet article se propose d'étudier d'une part les échanges économiques entre les villes catalanes et Dubrovnik et, d'autre part, de reconstituer le destin des fami­lles catalanes et des individus, qui choisissaient de s'expatrier dans cette ville slave, loin de leur pays et de leur ville d'origine. L'auteur s'appuie sur les documents des archives catalanes, principalement des Archives de la Couronne d'Aragon et des Archives Notariales de Barcelone, ainsi que des Archives de Dubrovnik, pour presenter l'exportation catalane à Dubrovnik (laine) et l'exportation ragusaine dans les villes de Catalogne (esclaves, métaux precieux, bois, etc.). On suit aussi le sort des Catalans à Dubrovnik (conflits, adaptation, position dans la société locale). La nature des docu­ments notariaux lui permet de proceder à certaines évaluations statistiques, sur la nature et le rythme des échanges.