On the history of Russian-Safavid trade and economic relations in the XVI–XVII centuries

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Sumgait state university

On the history of Russian-Safavid trade and economic relations in the XVI-XVII centuries

Mammadov R. Yu.

Abstract

The article deals with the terms of trade of the Moscow state with the Safavids, it is noted that the main point where trade with the Qizilbashs and Moscow, was concentrated. It was also Astrakhan, where several guest houses were circled for foreign trade and a special one for the Safavid trade. Particular attention is paid to elucidating the nature of the Russian-Safavid trade exchange, when the first merchants who marched at the head of this exchange were the sovereigns of both countries. They conducted significant trade among themselves, which was expressed primarily in the original form of the exchange of gifts, the presentation, which was mandatory. Along with this, there was also trade in the form of a simple sale and purchase: the ambassadors usually received instructions to buy certain goods needed for their sovereign. The materials we have collected on the trade relations of the Safavids, despite their minority and fragmentation, allow us to provide an overview of the trade relations of the Qizilbash state with the countries of the East and the West. These materials also allow us to draw some conclusions about the structure, organization, and conditions of trade. In the XVI-XVII centuries, the trade relations of the Safavids became sustainable and were characterized by a wide range of countries and high intensity of trade. The development of trade and economic relations led to the establishment of an extensive network of trade routes to the East and West in the territory of the Safavid state and important centers of this trade, both within the state and on the south-eastern borders. Shah I Abbas, who was interested in the development of Safavid trade, mainly in expanding and strengthening trade relations with all countries, was interested in implementing the active trade policy of the state.

Key words: transit, merchant, status, seating yard, necessary things.

Анотація

Мамедов Р.Ю.

З історії російсько-сефевидських торгово-економічних відносин у XVI-XVII ст.

У статті розглядаються умови торгівлі Московської держави з державою Сефевідів, відзначається, що основною точкою, де була зосереджена торгівля з кизилбаськими державами та Москвою, була також Астрахань. Тут було відведено кілька гостьових будинків для зовнішньої торгівлі й особливий - для торгівлі з державою Сефевідів. Особлива увага приділяється з'ясуванню природи російсько - сефевидського торгового обміну, коли перші купці, на чолі яких стояли правителі, були суверенами обох країн. Між собою вони вели значну торгівлю, яка виражалася насамперед в оригінальній формі обміну подарунків. Поряд з цим існувала і торгівля у формі простої купівлі-продажу: посли зазвичай отримували інструкції купувати певні товари, необхідні їхньому володареві. Зібрані нами матеріали про торговельні відносини Сефевидів, незважаючи на їх невелике число і фрагментарність, дозволяють здійснити огляд торгових відносин кизилбаських держав із країнами Сходу та Заходу. Ці матеріали також дозволяють зробити деякі висновки про структуру, організації й умови торгівлі. У XVI-XVII ст. торгові відносини Сефевидів набули стійкого характеру і характеризувалися широким розкидом країн і високою інтенсивністю торгівлі. Розвиток торгово-економічних відносин призвів до створення розгалуженої мережі торгових шляхів на Схід і Захід на території держави Сефевідів і важливих центрів цієї торгівлі як всередині держави, так і на південно-східних кордонах. Шах Аббас I, який був зацікавлений у розвитку торгівлі Сефевидів, у розширенні та зміцненні торгових відносин з усіма країнами, також прагнув проводити активну торговельну політику.

Ключові слова: транзит, купчина, статус, гостинний двір, необхідні товари.

Аннотация

Мамедов Р.Ю.

Из истории русско-сефевидских торгово-экономических отношений в XVI-XVII веках

В статье рассматриваются условия торговли Московского государства с государством Сефевидов, отмечается, что основной точкой, где была сосредоточена торговля с кызылбашами и Москвой, была также Астрахань. Здесь было отведено несколько гостевых домов для внешней торговли и особый - для торговли с государством Сефевидов. Особое внимание уделяется выяснению природы русско-сефевидского торгового обмена, когда первые купцы, во главе которых стояли государи, были суверенами обеих стран. Между собой они вели значительную торговлю, которая выражалась, прежде всего, в оригинальной форме обмена подарками, преподнесениями, что было обязательным. Наряду с этим существовала и торговля в форме простой купли-продажи: послы обычно получали инструкции покупать определенные товары, необходимые их государю. Собранные нами материалы о торговых отношениях Сефевидов, несмотря на их небольшое число и фрагментарность, позволяют дать обзор торговых отношений Кызылбашского государства со странами Востока и Запада. Эти материалы также позволяют сделать некоторые выводы о структуре, организации и условиях торговли. В XVI-XVII в. торговые отношения Сефевидов приобрели устойчивый характер и характеризовались широким разбросом стран и высокой интенсивностью торговли. Развитие торгово-экономических отношений привело к созданию разветвленной сети торговых путей на Восток и Запад на территории государства Сефевидов и важных центров этой торговли как внутри государства, так и на юговосточных границах. Шах Аббас I, который был заинтересован в развитии торговли Сефевидов и в расширении и укреплении торговых отношений со всеми странами, также стремился проводить активную торговую политику.

Ключевые слова: транзит, купчина, статус, гостиный двор, необходимые товары.

Main part

Introduction. The normalization and improvement of political ties between Russia and the Safavids, according to the Russian historian P.M. Karamzin, should objectively lead to the establishment of strong trade and economic relations, which already at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. were distinguished by mutual benefit and equality and were not interrupted even during the years of foreign policy crises. The proliferation of Russian cities, the scientist believes, favoured the extraordinary successes of trade, which more and more multiplied the royal income (in 1588 they extended to 6 million silver rubles) [1, p. 275].

Questions of Russian-Safavid trade relations in scientific literature. S.M. Solovyov, using archival materials, also covers in detail the individual periods of the Russian-Safavid trade relations. The scientist details the arrival of the English merchant Merik to Moscow with a royal desire «to open the way to Persia along the Volga for English merchants.» Noting that after the British with the same demands the French appeared, he emphasizes that under Philaret neither the British, nor the Dutch, nor the French were given the road to Persia, but after his death, relations changed and an agreement was concluded with the Holstein ambassadors in December 1634 allowed a company of Holstein merchants to trade with Persia through Muscovy for 10 years [2, p. 187].

According to N.I. Kostomarov, trade between Russia and Persia until the middle of the 15th century was insignificant. Only in the 16th century large caravans were sent from Moscow to the southeast [3, p. 170]. The Moscow state pursued a flexible foreign trade policy, combining foreign policy interests with the interests of Russian feudal lords and merchants, skilfully using, in the words of M. Polievktov, «European-Asian transit of world significance».

The famous researcher on the history of the peoples of the East A. Shpakovsky, studying the history of Russian-Persian trade relations in the XVI-XVII centuries, notes that the trade of Moscow Russia with the Safavids realised at the end of the XVI and beginning of the XX century. The XVII century managed to get better. Every year, embassies are sent from Persia to Russia, as well as from Russia to Persia, which include many merchants. The Muscovite state derived considerable profit from the Persian trade, occupying an advantageous position as an intermediary between East and West. The author explains the stability of the Russian-Persian friendship in the XVI-XVII centuries, namely, strong trade interests. The scientist pays significant attention to the terms of trade with the Safavids, noting that the main point where the trade of the Moscow state with Persia, in addition to Moscow, was also Astrakhan, where several guest houses were set aside for foreign trade and a special one for Persian trade [4, p. 29].

Particular attention is paid to the clarification of the Russian-Persian trade exchange, when the first merchants who marched at the head of this exchange were the sovereigns of both sides: they conducted significant trade among themselves, which was expressed primarily in the original form of the exchange of gifts, the presentation of which was mandatory. Along with this, there was state trade in the form of a simple purchase and sale, as well as private trade, which was greatly constrained by the enormous privileges of the former.

W.W. Barthold briefly outlining the main issues of economic and other relations of Persia with the countries of near and far abroad, he claims that Western countries paid attention to the Safavids for political purposes (to fight Ottoman), and only then from the economic side in order to enjoy the benefits of eastern trade. According to the scientist, the country in world trade could play only a secondary role, because the caravan trade did not occupy the main place, and the sea trade with the Safavids was for the Europeans only an addition to the trade with India, which provided the greatest benefits. The author emphasizes that both Western and Russian merchants were interested in trade relations with the Safavids [5, p. 759].

A. Zevakin believes that Russian-Safavid relations in the years under study were purely economic in nature and were directed almost exclusively towards the development of trade, and the main issue considered at the diplomatic negotiations concerned trade matters: the issue of oppression, abuse and losses inflicted on the merchants of both states, the issue of the collection of duties, the settlement of trade, etc. Political issues did not play a significant role. E. Zevakin also wrote about the economic situation of Persia in the XVII century and about the Russian-Safavid trade, where he dwelling on the reasons for the economic decline of Persia at the end of the XVII century / It concludes that Persia has lost for Russia the significance in the XVII century [6, p. 70].

The book by M.V. Fechner that it is the only monograph of him, deals with the issue of Russia's trade with the East in the XVI century. Meanwhile, in the history of Russian foreign trade, the 16th century seems to be the time of Moscow's great striving for the markets of the East, trade relations with the countries of the East, including with Iran, which began in the XV-XVI centuries, acquire a permanent character at this time, differ high intensity of commodity exchange and play a leading role in the general foreign trade turnover of Russia [7, p. 5]. The study examines the ways of trade between Moscow state and the Safavid Empire, provides a description of these routes with an indication of their economic significance, as well as a description of the most important shopping centres, where the activities of Russian merchants were concentrated.

Often, due to the danger of an attack on caravans on the way, merchants joined diplomatic embassies, which were usually heavily guarded and followed further along with them. In the work of Russian authors there is a detailed description of the Volga-Caspian route to Azerbaijan and Iran, the starting point of which was Moscow, from here the travellers descended along the Moskva River and the Volga to Astrakhan. Since the Volga route was not distinguished by safety, the ships usually gathered in large caravans, sometimes reaching up to 300 ships [7, p. 20].

Features of the formation of trade relations in the study period. At the beginning of the XVI century. after Ottoman was ousted from the Caucasian coast of the Caspian Sea, the bulk of trade goods to Qizilbashs again went through the largest centre of eastern trade - Shamakhi, which was the final destination of trade expeditions of many merchants heading to Iran. In addition to waterways, the Russian state was connected with the Safavids and land roads. Trading operations of the Safavid merchants were carried out in the XVI-XVII centuries. in a small number of cities: in Astrakhan, which again acquired great commercial importance, where merchants stored their goods and carried out trade operations, and their goods were examined and rewritten by customs officers, moreover, Safavid merchants, trading in Astrakhan mainly with their own goods, often brought for sale also shah's goods.

However, only an insignificant part of the Safavid products brought to Astrakhan were consumed locally, the bulk of them were sent up the Volga to Moscow and to other cities of the Russian state. Another centre of the Safavid trade was Kazan, where the Gilan, Shamakhi and Iranians conducted constant trade, the main object of which was fabrics, and as for Nizhny Novgorod, in the period under review, all the movement of goods between Astrakhan and the internal markets of the state passed through it, but it was only for Qizilbash merchants, not only as a transit point, the city itself attracted them with local products, and only a part of the Safavid products remained and were consumed in the Volga region, the overwhelming mass of them was sent further to Moscow and spread in large and small batches to different cities of Russia.

Available sources do not make it possible to get a complete picture of the total volume of trade operations and the economic structure of Russian foreign trade. The most significant part in the group of export goods to Qizilbash state consisted of leather, weapons, metal products of economic value, distinguished by high quality, relative cheapness and therefore had a wide demand in the markets of the East, and in this regard, during the reign of Fedora, they were ranked as «reserved goods», trade in which was a monopoly of the treasury. An important place in Russian export was occupied by products of woodworking production, fur, where there was a great demand for them. The export of furs to Qizilbash state was carried out by both merchants and the royal treasury.

At the end of the XVI century due to the great demand of the eastern market for sables, trade in the latter was concentrated in the hands of the treasury. Among other products of Russian crafts, honey wax took the second place after furs in export to the Safa - vid state, the wide demand for wax was caused by the needs of lighting and apparently. Their classification as protected goods were mainly a desire to limit the export of these products due to the increased demand on them domestically and on the external market. Among the export goods, hunting birds are often mentioned, which, although they were not included in the number of protected ones, nevertheless, the trade in hunting birds was apparently exclusively in the hands of the government, they were constantly sent to Qizilbash state as a «commemoration», to purchase hunting birds from the treasury merchants from the Shah came to Moscow more than once. As for the export of agricultural products, it constituted a relatively small part of the total Russian export to the East. At the same time, along with trade in products of its own production, Russia also conducted intermediary trade, selling some goods from Western Europe to Qizilbash state. The re-export goods, which were exclusively objects of the royal bargaining, include, first of all, cloth, glass, and non-ferrous metals.

As the analysis of the structure of Russian imports from the Safavid state shows, fabrics, especially silk, constituted one of the most significant articles of imports of the Russian state, often exceeding 70% of the total value of imported goods. Safavid materials were very diverse in their varieties, in colour, elevation and softness of tones, they penetrated into Russia, mainly through the Astrakhan and Kazan markets and were used by the treasury even for distributing salaries and were also sent in the form of commemorations to the sovereigns of Western Europe.

Raw silk was imported to Russia mainly from Azerbaijan and Iran, where silkworm breeding was highly developed, especially the Caspian Sea region - Shirvan and Gilan, which gave a large number of different varieties of raw silk/ Shirvan silk was of the highest quality. Regarding the growth in the import of raw silk, oil, it should be noted that it was in connection with the beginning of their re-export to Europe [7, p. 79]. The absence of bilateral trade agreements, in the conclusion of which Russia acted as the initiator and which were not implemented, through no fault of hers, significantly complicated Russia's economic relations with Qizilbash state, since if there were agreements, Russia's foreign trade with the East could undoubtedly take on a much larger scope and would even more permanent than she actually had.

According to P. Bushev, the initiator of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Safavids was the Iranian side; trade issues played a certain role in this. Mutual interest in trade was so obvious to both sides that it did not require any special negotiations. The parties reached an agreement on the development of Russian-Iranian trade, including the issue of the transit of Iranian goods to Europe through the territory of the Moscow state, as well as the status and actions of the merchants [8, p. 74]. Noteworthy is the written proposal of Shah Abbas I to establish trade between states through special people. Thus, Shah Abbas I laid the foundations for a new form of trade through his people - Iranian merchants.

A study of the activities of Russian embassies in the Iranian state of the XVI-XVII centuries written by historians (Karamzin, Soloviev, Bushev, etc.) in the archival documents shows that all Russian embassies and missions in one form or another were subjected to customs inspection in order to impose duties on their goods. According to Russian historians, the Ambassadorial Prikaz (Degree) handled the Iranian embassies incomparably more carefully and satisfied «on behalf of the Tsar» the requests of the Iranian merchants for exemption from duties. Misunderstandings, nagging and mutual accusations over the duty-free import of Iranian goods continued throughout the XVII century, the Russian side proposed to cancel this privilege or limit the amount of duty-free import of goods to five thousand rubles, the Iranian side categorically refused. Established explicitly at the end of the XVI century Shah Abbas I, the practice of sending merchants with his goods to the Russian state for duty-free trade after a few years turned into the right to duty-free import of the Shah's goods to Russia.

Among the works of A.A. Rahmani [9] whom books was the first attempt in our historiography for studying the main problems of the history of the Azerbaijani people at the end of the XVI and XVII centuries. A major specialist in Persian-language sources, he managed to give a detailed picture of the socioeconomic history of Azerbaijan against a broad background of comparison with similar processes among other peoples of Iran. In his studies, along with political history, he paid great attention to the development of issues of the socio-economic life of the Safavid state, its trade, and economic ties with Moscow state.

Among the newest works of the period of independence, N. Suleymanov's monograph [10] is of particular importance in the development of the problem. On the basis of primary sources, the scientist explores such serious economic problems as agriculture of the Safavid state, domestic and foreign trade, the activities of financial structures, sources of replenishment of the state budget, the situation of the rural and commercial artisan population, the expansion of the role of cities, which played an important role in the economic life of the country. The work especially emphasizes the strengthening of trade and economic ties between the Safavids and Russia during the period of Shah Abbas I, when Russian merchants were given broad privileges. Thus, the government of Boris Godunov paid great attention to expanding economic ties with the Safavid state [10, p. 271, 275].

Issues of the economic life of the Qizilbash state were duly reflected in the works of Sh. Farzaliyev [11], V. Piriyev [12], Z. Bayramly [13] and others, where, on the basis of significant factual material from various primary sources and works of a memoir, important issues of life are highlighted of the Safa - vid state in the years under study. Speaking about the regular trips of Safavid ambassadors to Moscow and presenting the list of the embassy, the researchers emphasize the presence of a significant trade element in the embassy. Persian merchants always came with the Safavid ambassadors, who, like the ambassadors, were given food from the Shah's treasury. Moscow merchants were also sent with Russian ambassadors, and the Moscow government did not at all encourage attempts by foreigners to take part in the Russian-Persian trade and did not allow them to go with Russian ambassadors to Qizilbash state.

Some significant issues in the socio-economic life of the country are touched upon in the relevant sections summarizing publications on the history of Azerbaijan [14]. It is especially emphasized here that in the XVI-XVII the Safavids conducted a large trade with Russia and the main place in the trade belonged to raw silk, which was produced in abundance in Arash, Shamakhi, Julfa. Textiles, carpets, oil, salt, rice were also exported from Azerbaijan to Russia [14, p. 374].

The further practice of the Russian-Safavid trade soon showed that both sides did not strictly adhere to their obligations. The reason was mainly the arbitrariness and greed of the feudal medieval administration, which the central government did not always cope with. Therefore, soon began mutual claims of both sides to oppress their merchants. However, all the same, Russian-Safavid trade relations were built from the very beginning on the basis of equality and mutual benefits. In addition, the equality of Russian-Safavid trade relations could not but have a positive impact on the construction of economic relations between Iran and Western European states in the XVI-XVII centuries.

Russian-Safavid trade, being itself a consequence of the general growth of the country's production forces, was at the same time a major factor that stimulated further growth in production and contributed to the development of local trade. In this respect, eastern trade was undoubtedly more important for the country's economic development than trade with Western Europe, which exported mainly raw materials from Russia. The development of Russian-Safavid trade at this time was largely due to the active trade policy of the Russian state, which was economically interested in expanding and strengthening its trade relations with the countries of the East. While carrying out a number of incentive measures within the country for the Safavid trade representatives, the Russian government, at the same time, through diplomatic negotiations and charters, sought to streamline the terms of trade of Russian merchants in the eastern possessions, as well as the terms of trade of the namesake conducting private bargaining in Russia.

Conclusions. Thus, the information we have collected on Russian-Persian trade at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries still allows us to present an overall picture of trade relations between the two countries in the period under review and draw some conclusions regarding the structure, organization and conditions in which this trade took place.

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