The Greek colonies in the countries of the Hapsburg Monarchy constitute a significant part of the network of colonies the Greeks had created beyond the Ottoman Empire during Turkish rule. The initially remote and later massive movements of the Greek Ottoman subjects to the Hapsburg Monarchy increased in the 17th and particularly in the 18th century and led to the formation of flourishing Greek Communities.

The broad and multinational Hapsburg Empire at times included the contemporary state of Austria, Hungary, Transylvania and the contemporary regions of the former Yugoslavian state. Thus, it is worth classifying and examining the Hellenic colonies of Austria-Hungary, Transylvania and the former Yugoslavian regions in one single group of colonies, for these countries were under the same political authority and were formed and developed under similar conditions.

With the exception of the first centuries of Turkish rule (15th-16th centuries) - when remote movements of scholars to the countries of Europe were observed (basically in the direction of the Italian peninsula but also towards central Europe and the northern Balkans) - the main current of the massive movements from the Ottoman territories to the countries of the Hapsburg Monarchy began in the 17th century and was connected to the particular economic conditions of that period.

The desire of becoming rich and improving their economic condition made many Ottoman subjects leave the Ottoman Empire. This movement was favoured by the crisis that the Ottoman state mechanism was going through and the development of trade which was promoted by the Ottoman government as it intended to make Constantinople the centre of international trade, but also by the Hapsburg monarchy which aimed at penetrating in the large markets of the East.

The blockade of the Black Sea to the non-Ottoman ships by the sultan (from 1592 until 1774) and the creation of new cities or the revival of older ones were the basic conditions that the orthodox populations of the Ottoman Empire took advantage of from the 16th century onward in order to develop trade. In addition, from the 17th century, the Hapsburg Monarchy, developing its domestic artisanship and industry, pursued penetrating into the markets of the East for trading its products but also for raw materials. But, as the Austrian merchants ignored the languages and customs of the Balkan peoples, they could not easily deal in the Balkan markets and therefore needed intermediaries for their commercial transactions with the Balkan populations. The role of the intermediary was taken over by mainly Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. The most enterprising intermediaries were the Greeks, the Vlachs and the Serbs who undertook the transit trade of the Ottoman Empire in central Europe, while many of them began to create commercial companies and settle in different urban centres of the Hapsburg Monarchy. At the same time, the Hapsburg authorities attracted and favoured the settlement of the Balkan merchants in various commercial centres of the Hapsburg territory or in regions with little population and no mercantile class (e.g. Hungary after the Turkish occupation) by conferring privileges and accommodations. Thus, the majority of the orthodox migrants that came from the Ottoman Empire to the Hapsburg countries, travelled as merchants - they were called pedlars at that time - and came from Macedonia (mainly from western Macedonia), Epirus and Thessaly.

The treaties of Karlowitz (1699) and Passarowitz (1718), which established the commercial relations of the Hapsburg Empire with the Ottoman territory, constituted the milestones of the activation of the Greek merchants. Specifically, the treaty of Karlowitz provided great accommodations to the Turkish trade, while the treaty of Passarowitz - and especially the commercial agreement that accompanied the treaty - established the liberty of navigation on the Danube for the contracting parties and for the Ottoman subjects who traded in the Hapsburg countries, and the salutary 3% tariff whereas the merchants-subjects of the Hapsburgs were obliged to pay higher tariffs. These accommodations generated another increase of Greek migrants to the Hapsburg countries.

A new wave of migrants arrived in the Hapsburg regions after the first Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774). Many of these migrants invited their families in the Hapsburg countries as they were compelled by the Austrian authorities to obtain the Austrian citizenship. The new Austrian-Turkish War (1787-1791/2) provoked a new wave of Greek orthodox migrants to different regions of the Hapsburg territory. However, the decree issued by the Austrian emperor in 1789 which obliged all Ottoman subjects living in the Hapsburg Empire and particularly in Hungary and Transylvania to obtain the Austrian citizenship by taking an oath of allegiance to the emperor and to pay all taxes, marked the beginning of the arrival of less Greek migrants to these regions.

The number of Greeks that settled in the Hapsburg territory started decreasing from the beginning of the 19th century. The reasons for this decrease must be sought in the change of the economic policy of the Hapsburg Empire from the last thirty years of the 18th century. The Hapsburg Empire started restricting the financial facilitations for the Ottoman subjects and supporting the merchants of Austrian citizenship instead. This obliged many Greeks to obtain the Austrian citizenship in order to ensure their commercial activities. As a result, many Greeks were assimilated in the Austrian population. At the same time, many Greek commercial houses went bankrupt in the beginning of the 19th century because of the economic crisis in the countries of the Hapsburg Monarchy during the period of warfare against the French. In addition, the new Greek state did now show adequate interest in the centres of Hellenism beyond its territory and thus contributed to their decline.

The neighbouring region to Austria-Hungary and Transylvania, the so-called Danubian principalities, that is the principalities of Moldavia and Walachia cannot be included in the countries where Greek colonies were created because of the peculiar regime of these two countries. Walachia and Moldavia, payed tribute to the sultan from 1476 and 1512 respectively, while they were virtually ruled by the boyare (Romanian princes). Walachia from 1709 and Moldavia from 1711 up to 1830 were ruled by the Phanariot princes (hospodars), which were appointed by the Ottoman government. In these two principalities, the Greeks appear initially in the mercantile activities from the 16th century. Later the presence of the Greeks prevails in the religious and intellectual life of Walachia and Moldavia. The government period by the Phanariot princes is marked by the diffusion of the Greek language, the increase of the Greek influence and the intense presence of the Greeks in the administration as well as in the ecclesiastic and intellectual field with the operation of the flourishing academies of Iasi and Bucharest and the foundation of Greek printing houses. Nevertheless, this evidence does not suffice to classify the Greeks of the Danubian Principalities in the Hellenism of the colonies, since no particular Greek colony was composed and no Greek community was created according to the prototype that we find in the other countries of reception of Greeks.

These are the reasons for which these regions cannot constitute a particular object of analysis in this study which intends to focus on the outline of the Hellenic colonies of Austria-Hungary, Transylvania and that of the former Yugoslavia beginning from their creation (17th century) until the outbreak of the War of Greek Independence of 1821.