Greek Cotton Merchants in the New Orleans Mosaic

Alexander Billinis

doi:10.25071/2561-5467.1411

Authors

Alexander Billinis

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.1411

Keywords:

Greeks, merchants, cotton, New Orleans, American Civil War, Egypt

Abstract

Beneath the headlines of the mid-nineteenth century cotton trade was a well-financed network of Greek commodities merchants operating in New Orleans and New York, part of a network operating in the major ports of Europe, the Mediterranean, and India. This network played a niche role in the Southern cotton trade, and a primary role in Anglo-French efforts to develop alternative supply chains to Southern cotton during the Civil War by shipping cotton from Egypt, India, and the Ottoman Empire. The network also founded the first Orthodox church community in the United States.

Author Biography

Alexander Billinis

Alexander Billinis is a PhD candidate in Clemson’s Digital History Program and an instructor in the Clemson History Department. He has taught as a lecturer in the Political Science Department and Honors College at Clemson University and served for four years as coordinator for the Dixon Fellows Program in the Clemson Honors College. Proficient in a half-dozen languages, Alexander graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1991 and American University Washington College of Law in 1997. His master’s degree in history from Clemson University (2022) centered on the role of the Greek merchant marine in Greek national identity. Alexander’s current research focuses on the Atlantic world, particularly the cotton economy of the Southern United States and the role of Greek cotton merchants in the mid-nineteenth-century cotton trade, particularly in New Orleans and other Southern ports but also in Europe and the Mediterranean, primarily Egypt. This article won the Clark G. Reynolds Student Paper Award in 2025.

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Greek Cotton Merchants in the New Orleans Mosaic

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