Trade in Safavid Iran

Abstract

Trade with Iran was influenced by several factors over which neither the government nor the merchants had much or any control. The most important factor that affected trade was the weather. European travelers lauded the safety of the roads in Iran, comparing it favorably with conditions in the Ottoman Empire and Mughal India. Safavid Iran had little to offer in terms of exports. Apart from its major export commodity raw silk, Iran only offered carpets and wrought stuffs, dried fruits and hardly anything else. The wholesale merchants played an important part in both international and domestic trade. Trade between India and Iran was conducted both by land and sea routes before the Europeans arrived in the Indian Ocean. Ottoman Turkey was the major market for Iranian raw silk and Indian transit goods, in particular spices, drugs, indigo and textiles. The main reason for the insignificance of Iranian–Central Asian trade was not the breakdown of safety and order along silk road.