Customs fees were also differentiated, with Christian importers paying 3.5 percent in customs tax, in comparison to the 2 percent required of the Muslims tradesmen.
From an industrial and trade perspective aside from the direct factors which caused the decline of the work of foreign merchants, there were other causes of decline, including the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in the 13th century and the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century after the attack of the Ottoman Turks. The upshot of these two events was that the two most important trade centres in the world at that time, where the products of Armenia and the entire Orient were exchanged, were destroyed or their demands considerably dropped.
From the 12th century onwards, the great trade route which connected the Baltic Sea, via Russia, with the Orient was diminished, and Scandinavian trade from that point on was conducted through Western Europe. Later, when the passage circulating the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa was discovered and trade was thus conducted between the West and the Far East, the importance of Armenia's geographical position decreased further in significance. 56 Nevertheless, due to the competence of its merchants and the old relations which they had maintained, Armenia was able to sustain its transit trade with India, Persia and the West via Erzurum and Trabizond. Erzurum had decome an important warehouse location for this trade route. Tournefort writes: "This city was the place for the transport of goods such as silk, cotton, spices, dyed fabrics from India and Persia."
The Armenian merchants continued their work according to their century-old customs, under severe circumstances. Their strenuous work was comprised of difficult journeys, which sometime took several years and exposed them to natural and human dangers in treacherous regions. Their courageous nature and physical durability were vital during those days, unlike in today's trade of simplified distribution. As an example we can quote Tournefort who creates the following image: "The Armenian does not feel tiredness during his journeys and ridicules the difficulties and the comfort of the season. We have seen them and their richest merchants go on foot, cross rivers of such a depth that the water reached to their throats while they lifted the horses, which no longer were capable of carrying their heavy load, and saved the packages of silk which belonged to them or their friends… Nothing other than the sight of this image can, simply, teach a lesson of compassion, the love towards one's neighbour, and strength, when you see how these merchants, during their journeys, help each other and their colleagues of other nationalities." 58
Another famous French traveller, by the name of Tavernier, has praised these Armenian merchants in a similar vein: "They are strong and indefatigable during long journeys… Moreover, they are so skilled in negotiating that they live on their large savings and eat very little." 59 The same person tells us that it was the Armenian merchants who imported silk products from Persia and spices from India to Europe, and on the return route imported English and Flemish textiles, sewing utilities, ironmonger products from Nuremberg, and glass products from Venice.
With its merchants and caravan-leaders, for many centuries Armenia played a similar role for Western Asia as, during Ancient times, the Greeks had via the sea for the Middle East. 60 Hence the Armenian caravan-leader was regarded as the classic pioneer of trade. As Varandian points out, the plough and the caravan have been the two strong axis within Armenian civilization and the two obvious symbols of the creating spirit of this people.
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