Italian merchants in Tabriz under the Ilkhanid rule: trade and partnership

The subject of this work is the development of relations between Italian merchants and the Ilkhanate of Persia during the course of the last decades of the thirteenth and the first half of the fourteenth century. Italian presence in the Ilkhanate is discussed in a multitude of works, but often marginalised as an appendix of Italian Levantine trade relations. The aim of this work is to deal with it as an autonomous and independent subject, trying to demonstrate that the nature of Italian presence in Persia was quite different from that of Latin trade relations with Levantine and North African territories. I will conduct an analysis of Italian commercial penetration in Persia providing a quantitative analysis of trade and focusing on the city of Tabriz and its connections. I will also try to demonstrate how Italians expanded their trade networks into Persia because they played an important role in the supply of certain services and commodities both to western and Mongol aristocracies....Show moreThe subject of this work is the development of relations between Italian merchants and the Ilkhanate of Persia during the course of the last decades of the thirteenth and the first half of the fourteenth century. Italian presence in the Ilkhanate is discussed in a multitude of works, but often marginalised as an appendix of Italian Levantine trade relations. The aim of this work is to deal with it as an autonomous and independent subject, trying to demonstrate that the nature of Italian presence in Persia was quite different from that of Latin trade relations with Levantine and North African territories. I will conduct an analysis of Italian commercial penetration in Persia providing a quantitative analysis of trade and focusing on the city of Tabriz and its connections. I will also try to demonstrate how Italians expanded their trade networks into Persia because they played an important role in the supply of certain services and commodities both to western and Mongol aristocracies. Lastly, by analysing the institution of ortagh (partnership), I will try to demonstrate how Italian presence in the Ilkhanate was similarly tied to a specific conduct of life and political project, and how the sudden disappearance of the latter caused the slow decline of Latin trade with Persia.Show less

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Italian merchants in Tabriz under the Ilkhanid rule: trade and partnership