From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: The Global Trade Networks of Armenian Merchants from New Julfa

Sebouh Aslanian

Published by University of California Press 2011

From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean

The Global Trade Networks of Armenian Merchants from New Julfa

Sebouh Aslanian

Volume 17 in the series California World History Library

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520947573

Overview
Contents

About this book

Drawing on a rich trove of documents, including correspondence not seen for 300 years, this study explores the emergence and growth of a remarkable global trade network operated by Armenian silk merchants from a small outpost in the Persian Empire. Based in New Julfa, Isfahan, in what is now Iran, these merchants operated a network of commercial settlements that stretched from London and Amsterdam to Manila and Acapulco. The New Julfan Armenians were the only Eurasian community that was able to operate simultaneously and successfully in all the major empires of the early modern world—both land-based Asian empires and the emerging sea-borne empires—astonishingly without the benefits of an imperial network and state that accompanied and facilitated European mercantile expansion during the same period. This book brings to light for the first time the trans-imperial cosmopolitan world of the New Julfans. Among other topics, it explores the effects of long distance trade on the organization of community life, the ethos of trust and cooperation that existed among merchants, and the importance of information networks and communication in the operation of early modern mercantile communities.

Author / Editor information

Aslanian Sebouh :

Sebouh David Aslanian is Professor & Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Note on Transliteration Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
1. From Trade Diasporas to Circulation Societies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Old Julfa, the Great Deportations, and the Founding of New Julfa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
3. The Julfan Trade Network I: The World of the Indian Ocean Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
4. The Julfan Trade Network II: The Mediterranean, Northwestern European, and Russian Networks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
5. “The salt in a merchant’s letter”: Business Correspondence and the Courier System Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
6. The Circulation of Men and Credit:The Commenda and the Family Firm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
7. Trust, Social Capital, and Networks: Informal and Semiformal Institutions at Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
8. The Center Cannot Hold: The Decline and Collapse of the Julfan Trade Network215 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
9. Conclusion: Comparative Thoughts on Julfan Armenians, Multani Indians, and Sephardic Jews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 392

eBook

Published: May 4, 2011
ISBN: 9780520947573