The port, and the settler hinterlands: Olivia Irena Durand, ‘Labour, trade, and settler colonisation: the role of Odessa and New Orleans on new imperial peripheries’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

The port, and the settler hinterlands: Olivia Irena Durand, ‘Labour, trade, and settler colonisation: the role of Odessa and New Orleans on new imperial peripheries’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2025

03Jan26

Abstract: The Russian Empire’s conquest of Southern Ukraine in the 1780s inaugurated an era characterised by the convergence of internal and external colonisation. This southward expansion granted Russia access to lucrative maritime trade routes and established a fertile agricultural frontier on Ukrainian lands. Contemporary observers likened the colonisation of the Black Sea steppes to overseas imperial projects, drawing direct comparisons between ‘New Russia’ and the American West. These parallels rested on shared features of settler colonisation, unfree labour regimes, and the export of staple commodities. As Odessa emerged as a key port city, this article situates its early development within the broader history of settler colonialism by comparing it to New Orleans and its influence over the Mississippi Basin. Between 1800 and the 1860s, both cities became major economic centres, serving as gateways for immigration and capital due to their geographical locations and inflows of foreign investment. Yet their shared reliance on bound labour also proved a structural vulnerability, hindering commercial modernisation and industrial diversification. By placing Odessa’s economic trajectory in a transatlantic framework, the study highlights how Russian settler colonialism shaped labour relations, commerce, and the integration of Southern Ukraine into global economic networks.

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