My project, a study of the nexus between empire and migration, will focus on the migration management policies introduced in the Black Sea region by the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Through a comparison of Russian and Ottoman responses to population movements, my project will address the following question: Did the policies introduced by the Ottoman and Russian empires to manage population movements in the Black Sea region promote further confrontation between the two empires or did these policies lead to cooperation, at either the state or local level, between imperial officials? For organizational purposes, my project will develop two case studies of large scale population movements (Crimean Tatars and Bulgarians) in the Black Sea region prior to the Crimean War (1853-1856). Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj) traffic across and around the Black Sea region will also be addressed. My project will adopt a multi-disciplinary approach and will draw on demography and migration theory. While located in a specific region in a specific historical period, my project will, through an analysis of regional cooperation and the construction of imperial migration regimes, contribute to our understanding of the nexus between empire and migration from an historical and twenty-first century perspective.