Uneasy Partnership: A Note on Armenian-Danish Commercial Collaboration in the Indian Ocean, ca. 1700

Abstract The trading network of the Armenians of New Julfa expanded apace in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean in the seventeenth century, the same period when the chartered trading East India Companies of the Netherlands, England, France and Denmark were being created. While we know a fair amount regarding Armenian dealings with the English, French, and Dutch, less has been written concerning the case of the Danes. However, an exploration of Copenhagen’s Rigsarkivet sheds some intriguing light on the Armenian-Danish relationship, which was one of both violent conflict and episodic partnership. This exploratory note closely considers a commercial contract in Julfa dialect from the early eighteenth century, which sheds light on the Armenian sugar trade from Bengal and the community’s dealings with the Danes.