Merchants and Merchant Networks in the Indian Ocean: The Armenians

Abstract

Among the major processes that characterized early modernity, the rise of the global oceanic routes and circulation across long distances has been considered crucial. This was facilitated by the formation of merchant networks like that of the New Julfan Armenians. Although the early modern Armenian diaspora in the Indian Ocean arena was a heterogeneous one, the majority of the merchants came from New Julfa, a township near Isfahan. The merchants and mercantile agents from New Julfa formed a massive network that facilitated the circulation of wealth, goods, personnel, information, and culture. Their operations expanded into the Indian Ocean world through the Eurasian caravan route from Narva to India. They were also active on the maritime route from Hormuz to the Philippines, giving the network an amphibious character. The members of the New Julfan network remained connected with each other across Europe, the Mediterranean zone, Russia, and South East Asia. This interconnectedness created a global network that facilitated the exchange of wealth, commodities and information. This makes the New Julfan network critical in understanding the dynamics of the mercantile economy of the early modern Indian Ocean world. The Armenian network functioned across a range of polities, including the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire, Mughal India, and also the emerging European colonial regimes in the Indian Ocean littoral. This provides a privileged vantage point for understanding the political spectrum of the early modern Indian Ocean World, especially in a period that saw the emergence of the European colonial regimes. Armenians as cultural and political brokers in this pluralistic situation played a significant role in the shaping of the early modern milieu. Their diasporic cultural traits and practices added to the socio-cultural setting of the region. Their language and culture of correspondence, self-regulatory mechanisms, and their endeavor to build institutions like churches, schools, and a print culture in the port towns of the Indian Ocean littoral contributed not only to the history of the community but also to the socio-cultural dynamics of the Indian Ocean World.