There was a fairly large Armenian colony in Dhaka, concentrated in the neighbourhood of Armanitola, during the early part of the 18th century.

The Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Resurrection established by the community in 1781, along with the adjacent cemetery, is a major landmark and tourist attraction of old Dhaka.

[7] After Safavid rulers conquered Eastern Armenia in the Caucasus, Shah Abbas deported about 40,000 Armenian traders specialized in inter-Euroasiatic trade to Isfahan and New Julfa.

[8] Armenian traders first came to Bengal from Isfahan and New Julfa in the wake of Persian adventurers, eventually establishing their own trading community.

[7] The Nawabs of Dhaka are known to have engaged them to transact their personal businesses openly or clandestinely as well as the European maritime companies, who used them as local representatives and their vakils (spokesperson or pleaders) to the royal courts.

[11] Between 1833 and 1918, at the height of Armenian presence, the records of Armanian Church in Dhaka list over 200 deaths, as well as over 250 baptisms and over 50 marriages.

[12] Apart from Dhaka there was a significant Armenian presence in Saidabad (a suburb of the capital Murshidabad), Hoogli, Kolkata, Chinsura, Patna and Kasimbazar.

[8] Dhaka was the hub of fine textiles at that time, a fact that attracted Persians and Armenians to settle business there.

Parts of the gardens of Shahbag, Ruplal House (another major landmark in old Dhaka) and the land where Bangabhaban (the presidential residence) stands belonged to Armenian zamindars (landlords).

By 1868, five of the six European zamindars in Dhaka were Armenians - JG Nicholas Pogose, GC Paneati, J Stephan, JT Lucas and W Harney.

[20] Alongside members of the major merchant families, Margar David, Mackertich Abraham George, Michael Sarkies, Abraham Lucas, M Highcazony, A S Mackertich, Tigran Nahapiet, Thaddeus Nahapiet, M.J. Catchhatoor, Joseph Lazarus, and M David were other prominent Armenians of Dhaka.