Armenian merchantry
[1] Armenians historically served as merchants at the crossroads of Central Asia, India, China, and the Mediterranean, facing persistent attacks from various quarters vying for control over the pivotal trade routes.
A notably impactful outcome of Greek commerce was the introduction of coinage to Armenia, catalyzing the growth of a money-based economy and with it profound economic and social changes.
To facilitate travel of merchants and troops between the Mediterranean and Central Asia, roads were constructed throughout Anatolia and Armenia and formerly isolated towns gained accessibility and established closer connections with the broader region.
This period was characterized by wealth, expanded commerce and the emergence of new classes of men whose livelihoods were based not in rural areas but in the cities on the international trade routes intersecting Armenia.
Merchants enjoyed secure passage through the country, and Armenians established trading posts in Trebizond, Tabriz, Soltaniyeh, Bukhara, and Beijing.
European traders were granted permission to establish colonies in Sis, Misis, and Tarsus; Venetian and Genoese merchants were the majority of colonists in these thriving settlements.
Julfa attracted large numbers of new settlers since it was perfectly situated near an international trade route connecting Tabriz, Yerevan, Erzurum, and Tbilisi.
Although Armenian towns and villages often suffered from devastating scorched-earth policies employed by both the Safavids and the Ottomans, there is little evidence indicating physical hardship endured by Julfa's population.
Recognizing Armenian expertise in commerce, the Shah enlisted their vast capital, global contacts, and market knowledge to advance Persia's foreign trade in raw silk.
The Armenian merchants of New Julfa were the main sources of the very substantial importation of silver into the Persian realm in exchange for Iran's raw silk.
Armenians, benefiting from granted to them interest-free loans and support for business ventures, monopolized the silk industry and turned New Julfa into a key Iranian trading hub.
This incursion inflicted significant casualties and losses on New Julfan Armenians, compelling numerous prominent merchant families to migrate to India, Russia, and various regions in Europe.
[26] New Julfa emerged as the epicenter of Persia's silk trade, orchestrating an extensive commercial network spanning from western Europe to India and Southeast Asia.
In the 17th century, the intricate trading system revolved around primarily several very rich and powerful New Julfan merchant families, commonly referred to as Khojas or sometime Aghas.
Renowned for their thrift and economy, these factors played a crucial role in maintaining high general profits while minimizing operational costs, thereby contributing to the prosperity of New Julfa's silk trade.
[26] Armenian trading houses, primarily located in New Julfa, operated as networks or alliances centered on influential merchant families and their heads, the Khojas.
These Khojas, functioning as both financiers and entrepreneurs, diverged from the model of single, large, hierarchically organized joint-stock companies prevalent among Northern Europeans.
Despite the Muslim dominance in Ottoman society, a limited number of Armenian families managed to secure influential positions in banking, commerce, and government.
[35] Questions regarding the factors behind the extraordinary success of the Armenians in the early modern era long-distance trade attracted the attention of such famous economic historians as Fernand Braudel and Philip D.
The organizational structure, grounded in family ties and trust among compatriots, provided Armenian merchants with two crucial advantages—cost savings and innovative practices.
The Armenians' ability to establish networks of trust, characterized by shared information and mutual support, stemmed from their distinct ethnic and religious minority status.
While acknowledging that other diaspora communities, particularly the Jews, possessed similar characteristics, it is suggested by Chaudhury that Armenians, possibly due to their advancements in these aspects, experienced a more pronounced success compared to others during the early modern era.
[27] According to Kirti N. Chaudhuri, Armenian traders were a group of highly skilled arbitrage dealers, compelled by historical circumstances to engage in flexible and geographically mobile commerce, with a profit-driven readiness to trade in various commodities and their indifferent approach to residence across locations such as Isfahan, Madras, Surat, or Hughli due to the uncertainties of their political and national status.
[1] John Fryer in 1698 wrote On which account it is the Armenians being skilled in all the intricacies and subtleties of trade at home, and travelling with these into the remotest kingdoms, become by their own Industry, and by becoming Factors of their own Kindreds Honesty, the Wealthiest men [...].
They are kind of privateer in Trade, no Purchase, no Pay: they enter the theatre of commerce by means of some Benefactor, whose money they adventure upon, and on Return, a quarter part of the gain is their own: from such beginnings do they raise sometimes great Fortunes, for themselves and (their) Masters[36]
