Kata Tóth

My PhD project aims to show the interconnectedness of Southeastern Europe with its Eastern as well as Western neighbors. I am writing my thesis on the power and ownership patterns as well as the environmental history of the Southern and Eastern Carpathians from the 14th to the 17th centuries: a mountain chain building the Westernmost border region of the Great Eurasian Steppe. The control and dominion over the mountain passes was largely influenced by the development of the trade routes connecting Central Europe with the Black Sea in the Late Middle Ages. From the mid-16th century, the social and economic changes that occurred following the Ottoman conquest increased the regional and supraregional significance of the mountains’ resources and the degree of their exploitation. Encouraged by my supervisor, Oliver Schmitt, I regard the history of the Carpathians in a framework that surpasses the frontiers of their adjacent lands.