Eurasian Trade of Coffee During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

This article examines the volume of the Eurasian trade in coffee exported to Europe, especially Yemeni coffee and the commercial developments that occurred in this commodity during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This research indicates that the entry of such a strategic commodity as coffee into Eurasian trade, and the competition between European commercial companies, brought about a profound change in the nature of economic relations between the two continents. This was accompanied by an important shift in European political positions and interests towards Asia. The article tries as much as possible to draw a picture, even if an approximation, of the commercial operations that were taking place in order to export it abroad. The research touched on the currencies and weights of different nationalities – Portuguese, English, Dutch, and Indians – in circulation due to the commercial activity during the period under discussion. Some of its people and the people of the surrounding areas, including Arabs, Persians, Turks, and others, also carried out commercial activity in the area, and there is no doubt that all of them paid for the goods and merchandise they bought, which made the area teeming with different types of money.