In Greek mythology, through the journey of the Argonauts and the narratives of Herodotus, the first great Greek historian of the Classical era, the Black Sea is presented as a northern mythical land offered for exploration and commercial exploitation. Greek ships transported metals and other raw materials, grains, and salted goods back to Greece, while the Greek colonies, founded on the coasts from the 7th century BC, brought and transplanted Greek political, religious, and cultural institutions to the Black Sea. This is a long history, which, with many local variations, continued until the 20th century. In our days, generations of Greeks from the Black Sea settled in Britain, where they constitute a socially recognized and active member of the community. However, with the forced Population Exchange after 1922, a large part of the Greeks of the Black Sea was forced to leave the areas where they had lived for such a long time. They brought with them many family and ecclesiastical relics that connected them to the past.