From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean : the global trade networks of Armenian merchants from New Julfa / by Sebouh David Aslanian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aslanian, Sebouh David.

Series:

California world history library ; 17.

The California world history library ; 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Merchants--Armenia--History--Sources.

Merchants.

Julfa (Iṣfahān, Iran)--Commerce--History--Sources.

Julfa (Iṣfahān, Iran).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (389 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Preface

Note on Transliteration

1. From Trade Diasporas to Circulation Societies

2. Old Julfa, the Great Deportations, and the Founding of New Julfa

3. The Julfan Trade Network I: The World of the Indian Ocean

4. The Julfan Trade Network II: The Mediterranean, Northwestern European, and Russian Networks

5. "The salt in a merchant's letter": Business Correspondence and the Courier System

6. The Circulation of Men and Credit:The Commenda and the Family Firm

7. Trust, Social Capital, and Networks: Informal and Semiformal Institutions at Work

8. The Center Cannot Hold: The Decline and Collapse of the Julfan Trade Network215

9. Conclusion: Comparative Thoughts on Julfan Armenians, Multani Indians, and Sephardic Jews

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613277312

9781283277310

128327731X

9780520947573

0520947576

OCLC:

719319906